How Can This Help Me Get The Job Done More Effciently and Effectively?
There have been many process improvement efforts launched against organization in an effort to control deviation from the ideal. TQM, SIX Sigma, BPR (Business Process Reengineering) among others are all just methodologies. Some implementations have been complete disasters and generate a lot of red tape.
In contrast, one of the simplest ways to document a process is by creating a check list, and one of the easiest ways to measure a process is to tick off each box in the check list.
”If you don’t know the process you don’t know what you are doing”
– W. Edwards Deming
Knowing your process enables you to work more efficiently, effectively and consistently with time savings over the long term. One of the reasons that experts are so valuable in their fields is that they have the skills to know how to do something well. If you were to investigate the skills that allow someone to do something well, you would discover that they have figured out a process and mastered it.
You probably know many people including yourself who just know how to do something without guidance. The process they follow is in their head, and they have repeated it so often that they often don’t even realize the processes they follow. Once a person or organization has mastered a process, we say that they have developed a capability, and the better they are at it, the more efficient and effective they are at achieving the desired outcome.
“Process isn’t red tape. Process, is just knowing what you are doing.
Documenting it allows you to do it consistently, as well as helping you identify ways to improve it.”
– Wayne McKinnon