Process
Get clarity on what you need to do.
Find out how to do those things.
Continually search for better ways to do those things.
Processes that are not documented and managed clearly will cause bottlenecks that stifle growth, and at worst, force a company to close.
Why?
So you can play "heads up" rugby. See the whole game not stuck in an inner loop.
- Improve Quality
- Reduce Cost
- Maximise Opportunities
- Create Harmony
| Reason | Points |
|---|---|
| Co-workers have confidence and trust in each other | |
| Open communication between employees and managers | |
| Managers share vision and information with employees | |
| Respond to changes in markets quickly | |
| Efficient communication channels for transferring information | |
| Clarity of people responsible for processes | |
| Transparancy and support for process changes |
Harmony
If you write down how things are to be done and agree upon it in advance, you save misunderstandings in the future.
You need to keep a decision register, those that are pending and those that have been made.
Journey
Stages of continuous improvement
- Identify the single biggest problem (process) you can do something about
- Be 100% clear about failure and successful outcomes
- Document the process of how the job is currently being done
- Create process to gather data to measure desired outcomes vs results
Process Mapping
Everything you do needs to have a process map that explains how you currently operate.
Process Improvements
You can't aim for perfection in one hit. Aim to make step improvements that provide a significant improvement in value creation. Then repeat the review - design - execute process.
You can't improve
- what you have not documented
- what you are not measuring
Review Questions
- What processes are broken?
- What steps in the process are creating problems?
- What steps require the most time to complete?
- What steps cause the most delays?
- Do specific steps utilize the most resource or result in the highest cost?
- Do specific steps result in quality issues
Process Optimisation
Most advanced, think differently.
- What would happen in a perfect world?
- What is a constraint could be removed? then what?
Eliminate Waste
- Where are customers wasting value? What cause?
- Where are operations wasting value? What cause?
Related
| Principle | Notes |
|---|---|
| Platform | Need a platform to make processes sticky |
| Outsourcing | Pay a professional to do a job faster, better and cheaper |
Resources
A process is only as good as it is consistently followed