Processes and Organizations

Any organization I see flaunts a process that they follow. Be it a company that makes software for others, kitchens, airports, and shop that sell lights, all claim that they are certified in one thing or the other. But a question that I often ask myself, coming out of a stinking toilet at an ISO certified airport, do they really know what they are talking about?

They shout out of the rooftops, "ISO, CMM, CMM-I, PCMM, Six Sigma." And you go in, you see the same thing again and again. The person who meets the customer, the person you interact with have no clue about the process they claim to follow. Don't get me wrong, I am all for the process. I guess I am a little puzzled at how companies ram it through and claim that all is hunky dory. It gets frustrating and yes I am cynical and completely disillusioned.

So what can be done...and more importantly what have I done. I have crystallized these as rules. Currently there are 4. Will add more as they come by.

Rule 1: One size does not fit all. You have to adapt. You have to customize. Every organization has to have its own stuff. You can't do a Kavya (Cntrl+C & Cntrl+V)

Rule 2: People come first, and then come processes. This is key. In a small company you can't put the process first. The people have to want it. They must, must champion it. You can't sit in your corner office and tell people what to do. Rather, have them tell you what they want to do. In a big company, the rule holds but it is run differently. A small group of people (hopefully, not everyone is super bright. There has to be some from the middle of the pile) who are practical, discuss, debate, fight and agree on the best way to do it. Then they roll it out.

Rule 3: Keep the processes logical, simple and easy to do. The lowest common denominator should be able to do it. And yes, all organizations have them. NO, your organization however good it is has them too. Digitize to mistake proof and idiot proof it.

Rule 4: The type of process you want is strategic, implementation is tactical. Processes cannot flow top-down, they have to flow bottom-up to meet the strategy. Essentially, I cannot sit in a glass cabin and tell the worker on the plant floor what is the process I think that (s)he can easily do. That has to come from the worker. I can only tell the worker, what I want from that process

These four rules will do. It will work for you if you give it a shot. It has for me....all the time