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Process Re-engineering

Process improvement/re-engineering, also known as business process re-engineering (BPR), is a strategic approach to redesigning and improving business processes within an organisation.

first principles of flow
Mantra

You can't improve what you have not mapped.

The key objective is to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, and agility of your business processes, ultimately resulting in increased customer satisfaction, cost reduction, and improved overall performance through leveraging technology and best practices.

Discipline for continuous improvement through process re-engineering.

  1. Identify the most important problem you can do something about
  2. Clarify failure and success expectations
  3. Document the process of how the job is currently being done
  4. Create process to gather data to measure desired outcomes vs results
Mantra

Make things flow smoothly to scale operations with peace of mind

The primary benefit achieved from mapping your business processes is that you can accurately evaluate each of the steps needed to complete a certain workflow, while understanding exactly how each of them interacts with one another and contributes to the process as a whole.

Techniques​

Aim to make step improvements that provide a significant improvement in value creation. Then repeat the review - design - execute process.

You can't aim for perfection in one hit and you can't improve what you:

  1. have not documented
  2. are not measuring

Strategic techniques for process improvement include:

BPR and JBTD​

BPR is a methodology for fundamentally rethinking and redesigning business processes to achieve significant improvements in efficiency, effectiveness, and customer satisfaction. The primary focus of BPR is on the organisation's internal processes and how they can be optimized to deliver better results.

JTBD is a framework that focuses on understanding customers' needs, motivations, and desired outcomes. The main idea behind JTBD is that customers hire products or services to accomplish specific jobs or tasks. By identifying and understanding these jobs, businesses can develop more effective solutions that better address customers' needs and direct more effective marketing campaigns.

When using JTBD to improve internal processes, elected leaders from an organisation serve as the customer voice. Here it is essential to understand the business drivers that indicate the path to success or failure. By identifying and optimising the jobs to be done for each department, the redesigned processes can better serve the needs of these internal customers and improve the system and improve the capability to steer the ship towards greater value realisation.

DDPI​

  • Observation
  • Collation
  • Translation
  • Standardisation
  • Integration
  • Validation
  • Automation
  • Optimisation

Observation​

This step involves closely monitoring and documenting the existing business processes, noting the tasks, decision points, dependencies, and interactions among different functional areas. It is crucial to understand the current state of the processes and identify areas for improvement or potential bottlenecks.

Collation​

In this step, all relevant data and information collected during the observation phase are organized and consolidated. This data may include process maps, performance metrics, stakeholder feedback, and any other relevant documentation.

Translation​

This step involves interpreting the collected data and identifying patterns, trends, or insights that can inform process improvements. It's essential to transform the raw data into actionable insights to guide the redesign of processes.

Standardization​

This step aims to create consistent, repeatable processes across the organization, reducing variability and ensuring adherence to best practices. Standardizing processes can improve efficiency, reduce errors, and simplify training for employees.

Integration​

In this step, processes are interconnected and streamlined to ensure seamless flow across functional areas. Integration can involve connecting systems, data, and people to enable better collaboration, communication, and decision-making.

Validation​

This step involves testing and verifying the redesigned processes to ensure they meet the desired objectives and performance targets. Validation may include pilot programs, simulations, or other testing methods to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the new processes.

Automation​

This step focuses on implementing technology solutions, such as robotic process automation (RPA), to automate manual, repetitive tasks. Automation can improve process efficiency, reduce human error, and enable employees to focus on higher-value tasks.

Optimization​

In this final step, the redesigned processes are continually monitored, evaluated, and fine-tuned to ensure ongoing improvement and alignment with organizational goals. Optimization involves identifying and addressing any new bottlenecks or inefficiencies that may arise and embracing a culture of continuous improvement.

Kaizen Culture​

Kaizen is a Japanese term that means "continuous improvement." Kaizen has a strong focus on promoting a culture that empowers all employeesto identify and implement improvements in their daily work.

Scale operations while maintaining standards through continous reinvestment in evolving system processes.

Drive continuous improvement/growth through a million micro steps to towards growth that compound every success and safeguard against failure.

  1. Improve communication protocols
  2. Eliminate firefighting
  3. Maximise opportunities

Good decisions come from the edges at the point of engagement, not from the top.

  1. Must have consistency approach to make efforts analysing results valuable
  2. Standards are essential for accurate pricing and ability to scale
  3. Can't be expert at everything, but need to be able to get the most from experts
  4. Never waste an opportunity to learn
  5. Must have discipline to write lessons learned
  6. A job is not finished until the process has been improved for the next person (even if that person is you)
  7. Nobody is above following process, but processes must be continually questioned and experiemented with

Six Sigma Analysis​

DMADV methodology's five phases are (Also known as DFSS "Design For Six Sigma"):

  • Define design goals that are consistent with customer demands and the enterprise strategy.
  • Measure and identify CTQs (characteristics that are Critical To Quality), measure product capabilities, production process capability, and measure risks.
  • Analyze to develop and design alternatives
  • Design an improved alternative, best suited per analysis in the previous step
  • Verify the design, set up pilot runs, implement the production process and hand it over to the process owner(s).