Author: Oliver Taylor

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Chase the assets

When working with a complex, wide spread or poorly defined process it is often worth chasing the assets from start to finish.

Those can be done from either end.

Looking at what starts the process whether it be an unpainted vase or a database of survey results, or look at what is produced a painted and packaged vase or a clearly written analysis of why a particular type of tap is preferable for 32 to 43 year old home owners.

When going forwards you will be asking well, how does that become that. When going backwards you will be asking how did this happen. In either scenario it is important to always understand where the tertiary steps originate from. How did the information for that thermal printer get there for this package.

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Process required versus actual

Steps taken
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Are we sure about the requirements?

Hidden frog

When reviewing a process it is often worth taking a step back and working out what the current process is currently supposed to be doing.

Even if you are just supposed to be streamlining a current process it is often worth identifying what it is supposed to be doing as it may be possible that the current process is either not achieving somthing it is supposed to be or is doing more than it is supposed to be.

Either way it is important to understand what you are supposed to be reviewing before trying to review it.

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Ask the staff not the document

Document Store

When analysing what is happening in the business, it may seem logical to review the documented processes to gain an understanding.

This may prove to be a problem as documented steps may be several steps removed from reality. 

Since they were written:

  • the steps may have changed
  • requirements may have altered
  • capabilities may have changed
  • expectation may have changed

All of these may result in what can be gleaned from the documents being skewed. Even if nothing has changed when the documents were written they may have been:

  • What should happen
  • What happens when everything goes as expected
  • Written by someone who was not directly involved

All of these add up to process documentation that may not show the process as it is now which means any assumptions based on it are not correct.

The answer walk through the process with the staff and match their experience with the documented approach this will enable to you understand if and where the seperation is and gain a clear, functional understanding of what is happening.