06
Fix the process before you automate it.
A process that is confusing on paper does not get better by running faster. We map how the work actually happens, find where it stalls, and redesign it before any technology is chosen.
What this covers
Named work rather than adjectives. If a piece of it is all you need, that is a perfectly good engagement.
- Workflow mapping
- Root-cause analysis
- Handoff and bottleneck review
- Future-state redesign
- Business rules
- Measurement
Proof
See it rather than take it on trust.
Something you can use on your own situation in the next five minutes, and where this has been done for real.
Method
How the work runs.
- Understand01
- Map02
- Diagnose03
- Redesign04
- Automate05
- Measure06
Process
Understand. Shape. Build. Improve.
Whatever the practice, the sequence is the same. The work changes; the order it happens in does not.
- Understand01
- Shape02
- Build03
- Improve04
Fix the process before you automate it.
Start with what is happening rather than with a specification. If this is not the right practice for it, that gets said early.