This is my first post, so please bear with me! I believe that process improvement is great. But one of the key problems I have seen over the past four years is that companies don't have a good handle on their current processes so they devise new ones and don't clean out the closet. So before I would suggest any improvements, I would say that organizations should have their current processes (functional and cross-functional) documented so they will have a better understanding of the improvements that could be implemented and understand the full impact of those improvements (functionally and cross-functionally). And once they make the improvements, update their process documentation (and maintain it!!!!!) so future process improvements will be easier to manage. I have also seen great systems put into place but they are not maintained so they soon become obsolete and outdated. Saving Changes...
Michael WoodProject Manager / Business Analyst / Business Process Improvement Guru| Independent ContractorGig Harbor, Wa, United States
Audrey, one of the fundemental elements of any process improvement effort is to map current and then correlate the goals that come from GAP or Change Analysis to those processes to assist in the identification of where defects and anomalies exist within the process.
So you are absolutely correct, its critical to map current processes in order to discover new improvement opportunities. Saving Changes...
I edit newsletter article titles and subtitles. Lately, I've been reading many articles on busniess processes. They all say the same thing, "Knowing your processes and get them working will save on the bottom line. Not more technology. Not more resources."
Yet, I'm still seeing big management say "We want CMM. We want Six Sigma. We want ISO-whatever." Again, they're focused on the end result and not the journey and keeping the journey.
Processes are big in my organization. Yet, too many times big management rolled out a new process without working with the process team. Yeah, that's walking the talk -- not.
Seems like all the experts get it, but big management needs to get it. Saving Changes...
Michael WoodProject Manager / Business Analyst / Business Process Improvement Guru| Independent ContractorGig Harbor, Wa, United States
Meryl, I thing we are a good 10 years from any mass enlightenment in top management as far as understanding the true importance of process and stakeholder value. Saving Changes...
