Harvard Style CitationIan Watson 2010, ‘Not another bloody process!’, hypotheticorp.org, weblog post, accessed 5 February 2012, <http://hypotheticorp.org/wp/management/process/>.
APA Style CitationIan Watson, (2010, August 13). Not another bloody process! [blog post]. Retrieved from http://hypotheticorp.org/wp/management/process/
MLA Style CitationIan Watson. “Not another bloody process!” hypotheticorp.org n.p., 13 Aug. 2010. Web. 5 Feb. 2012
How often have you been in a meeting and when discussions reach a sticky issue someone, who I’ll call the ‘processifecator’, chills you to the core by saying:
“We obviously need to develop a process for this”
You let out a sigh of disbelief, knowing that the momentum of your team is in jeopardy and you need to break this impending deadlock before the project stalls. Fortunately you know how to deal with situations like this because you know the seven wrong reasons for developing a process.
A process is an instruction on how to perform a routine task to reduce the risk of tripping over problems that have been anticipated or encountered in the past. Processes often form part of a business management system, such as ISO9001). Processes are useful, however …
A process is a precision weapon that should only be used when it adds value. Wrong processes leads to toxic processifecation, which grinds innovation and creative thinking to a halt. Here are seven good reasons not to have a process.
1. Punishment
You’ve made somebody angry and now they want to exert some power over you. Under these circumstances it is important to deal with the underlying reasons that the processifecator is punishing you and move on.
2. Laziness
The processifecator doesn’t want to do the work and rather play Minesweeper or check Facebook. A process can provide an excuse not to think about an issue and just tick the boxes as you progress. Laziness is definitely going to have an impact on innovation as a process can stop free thinking in its tracks.
3. Ignorance
There is already a process that is available and documented that is appropriate — maybe with some minor modification. Provide a copy of it and move on.
4. Security Blanket
The processifecator doesn’t want to be blamed for a decision and hopes to avoid this by ensuring that all of the stakeholders are “on board”. While communication with stakeholders should not be ignored, you should not disregard the money you’re paying someone for their expertise, rather than slavishly following a process.
5. One-off Activity
Almost universally, one-off activities should not be documented — unless health, the environment or large amounts of money are at stake. In most cases it will be enough to discuss the task first, do it, then move on.
6. Performance Management
Processes are sometimes developed because an individual is not competent and requires guidance in performing a task. Creating a process to manage performance is risky because somebody is performing a task that is beyond their level of competence.
7. It’s a trap!
The final and worst reason for creating a process is to deliberately spring a trap so that someone (the ‘target’) will fail to follow that process, justifying the subsequent disciplinary action or dismissal. This is one of the worst reasons for developing a process because you’ll be left with a flawed process and team members who will shift from performance behaviour to risk avoidance behaviour. This will have a fundamental impact on trust between team members and performance of the team.
When it’s all said and done …
There are good reasons to create a documented process. The most appropriate occasion to write a process is when documentation leads to significant improvements in production efficiency or customer experience and, more broadly, when the risk of not documenting the task is greater than the risk of documenting the task.
If the reason for a documented process is not clear when the processificator speaks up, it is likely that you’d be better off without one.
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