Draining the Swamp

When we try to simplify business processes, and make things more efficient, we are often surprised by how hard it is to make progress.  Sometimes it seems that endless small things get in the way.  Sometimes the people around us don’t seem to understand our great vision.  Sometimes they even seem to actively resist what we are doing.

Why is this so common?  How DO we come to be so up to our posteriors in alligators that we forget we were here to drain the swamp?

The Process IS the Language

In an organization where a particular process has been in place for a long time, a shorthand form of speech starts to take over.  Since everyone is used to the current way of doing things, people start talking in terms of the current steps, techniques and tools.  After a while, it becomes hard for them to think about the problem in any other terms.

This makes significant change harder.  People have trouble thinking about things they can’t talk about.  That makes it harder for us to even envision an approach that is too different from the one we are currently using.

As an example, when we talk about people working via a network instead of coming into an office, we call it telecommuting.  This wording assumes that there IS an office that we could drive to, or take the subway to, and that there are times of the day we need to do so.  The process that we are used to has people commuting to an office.  It is hard for us to even think clearly about a process that eliminates that (and possibly eliminates the office, and normal working hours, and a range of other concepts in our current model).

Even when someone does think of such a different path, it is hard to communicate it to anyone else.  This makes it tough to convince people, to get them to understand what they need to do, and so forth.

The Process IS the Culture

Often, significant changes to the way we do things feel somehow wrong.  There has been a consensus around the right way to do things for a long time.  Anything that radically changes that threatens the consensus, and makes us feel a bit lost.

This is aggravated when the people who are planning the changes seem to be outsiders.  It can feel like an attack on the group from the outside.  It is easy for members of the group to assume (sometimes correctly!) that the people involved don’t understand the whole situation, and are arrogant.

Just think of the kind of anger that can be aroused by the simple words “We are from the government and we are here to help you”.  You, as the business process engineer, are in that role, telling the locals that you know better than they do how to handle their situation.

You aren’t Paranoid if They Really ARE Out to Get You

Sometimes, the very people who best know what the current processes do are the people who feel most threatened by the project.

After all, in many cases, management is trying to optimize the process.  That CAN mean reducing the materials consumed, or money paid to outside organizations.  Often, though, it means reducing the number of people needed to produce a given amount of product.

This is fine if the amount of product sold goes up, and everyone can keep their jobs.  In a lot of businesses, possible sales are limited, and optimizing the process means firing people.  Who gets fired?  Some of the people who are doing the process now are the ones going out the door.

That is, helping you with this project hurries the time when these people will lose their jobs.  That makes it natural that they will resist.

They often can’t resist openly, since management is behind your project, but they can resist in subtle ways.

Rebuilding the Flying Airplane

Businesses are not usually static.  Products change.  Sales methods change.  Production methods change.  Staffing approaches change (e.g., outsourcing or offshoring).

When you are doing a large enough change to the business process, the business is likely to change while your project is happening.  It is hard enough to rebuild something complex like a business process or an airplane if it sits on the ground waiting patiently.  It is much harder if it is in motion.

Changes may invalidate your plans.  If they do, it is good that you find out this early.  Processes these days need to be flexible enough that few changes disrupt them.

You may also have to manage change in both the current process and the new one, since you can’t wait for a major project to complete to adapt to the changing world.