The big picture
Processes are such a big topic it’s often difficult to know where to start. People have a different view of processes depending on where they are coming from. For example, if you ask a manufacturing engineer about their view of processes, it is likely focused on what it takes to make something. They will talk about Bill of Materials, Supply Chain, components and work stations. Ask someone in purchasing and they will talk about procurement cycles, approvals and inventory. So processes are people specific? Yes, but they are also task and activity specific.
Before we get into the weeds of the details of individual processes, it’s worthwhile to move back to the big picture. After 20 years of practicing Change Management in organizations I feel the slide below tells the story pretty well.
Processes: The Big Picture
At the risk of challenging experts in this field everywhere, I would suggest there are only four areas where an organization uses processes to communicate or improve operations. These are:
- Efficiency
- Governance (sometimes called Compliance)
- Quality
- Change
Almost all processes have some overlap for each of these areas, and you can consider a viewing current processes through these different lenses. The reason is the process is or always should be the same, but there may be parts of it that are specific to efficiency, quality or compliance.
