The Process of Process Improvement

The mission of The Better Process Company is to make your company run better by changing the operational models, the 'how' of your business to make you more efficient. We do this by looking for ways to improve your workflows, process, and systems you use to get stuff done. Since we're all about process, there is a process for process improvement.

The three stage process.

Our process starts with “Discover, Document & Discuss”

This is a vital first step. Without it you have no idea where you're starting from, This means communication with stakeholders, and a lot of open communication. If you will only get a partial picture it will very likely cause problems down the road as the things you haven’t been told about begin to impact, or be impacted by, the changes you’re making. Oh, and write down, create flow diagrams so people can really see how bad it is.

Once you have finished the discovery step it's time to “Design & Decide”

The design needs to be clear and decisions made with all those involved. You need feedback, and going through the design may well prompt people to consider new factors that are relevant to the project. Once you have a design everyone has decided is suitable, you can move on to the final step

Time to get the new process live “Deliver & Do”

Getting a new process live requires some planning and during that you need to communicate with all the stakeholders - it is impossible to over communicate during this step. Once live you need a mechanism to provide feedback on what’s working and what isn’t. It is said that no battle plan ever survives first contact with the enemy. Similarly, no project plan survives first contact with reality - you are going to have to adapt. And that should be based on feedback.

Processes don't run themselves, even with automation, they need care and maintenance. More about that in another article...