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What Is a Process Improvement Methodology Anyway?
Michael R. Wood is a Business Process Improvement & IT Strategist Independent Consultant. He is creator of the business process-improvement methodology called HELIX and founder of The Natural Intelligence Group, a strategy, process improvement and technology consulting company. He is also a CPA, has served as an Adjunct Professor in Pepperdine's Management MBA program, an Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and on the boards of numerous professional organizations. Mr. Wood is a sought after presenter of HELIX workshops and seminars in both the U.S. and Europe.
Believe it or not, there are several PI methods out there, each primarily the proprietary property of the consulting companies that use them. So, it is somewhat hard to select one without engaging those who own it. But not all methods are alike. Some were born from the quality movement. Some evolved out of Structured Systems Development Life Cycle methods. To make things worse, they all use nonstandard terminologies to describe their tools, processes and procedures. Like every other discipline in its early stages of evolution, PI has many evangelists and gurus, each with his or her own style. Yet, if they are truly to be considered a PI methodologies, they must contain some fundamental tools and techniques. At a minimum these tools and techniques must facilitate the project team’s ability to:
- Define the gap between stakeholder needs, organizational objectives and operational outcomes.
- Conceptualize, with knowledge workers, the operational changes that need to take place in how work is done and how value is delivered in order to resolve the gaps defined.
- Quantify the value-added to the organization and its stakeholders that will be realized once the new processes have been implemented.
- Design new work processes and procedures that embrace …
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