Focus on: Value Stream Mapping

Understanding the delta between Structural Efficiency and Operational Efficiency and Why It Matters 

Value Stream Mapping, Business Process Modelling, Workflow Analysis, System Modelling – whatever you call it, without it you cannot understand how a system operates. These tasks model the way value flows around the system; value in this context can be defined as goods and materials, money, information or a combination of these things, essentially anything intrinsically valuable both tangible and intangible.  

That is the first thing to understand.  

The second is that all models are wrong but some are useful. 

The third thing is what determines how useful (or how wrong) these models are is the accuracy with which they capture the process. And that that process is influenced by two types of efficiency: Structural and Operational. 

Structural Efficiency is the most energy efficient means of getting from start to finish. For example, if we want to go from A to Z, the most structurally efficient way is to proceed linearly from A to B to C and so on until we get to Z. This is typically what is represented by the documented company processes and manuals.  

Operational Efficiency is the least operationally impactful way of getting from start to finish (or more operationally efficient). In our example, we might know that Author A needs to get Approvers B – Y to sign a document but that B and C look at different things and D only looks at the output of B; this means we can put B and C in parallel and then shorten the process to get to D, taking out a step and saving time. This is how people do things in reality. 

The Delta 

The difference between the two is the Human Factor.  

People are inherently lazy – at least in the sense that they want to get things done with the minimum amount of effort. This means that wherever there is a weakness in the official process, they will exploit it and develop a stronger, more efficient one.  

Successful modelling captures the Human Factor.  Why is Matters 

Capturing this matters because any user design, any effective end-state system or user interface needs to be cognisant of what people do, how they perceive value and where value flows in order to provide a useful and effective service. Mis-identifying value, believing it is somewhere it is not whilst devaluing where it is, all undermine the viability of the system and create a bigger behavioural change demand on the users which can, ultimately, bring about the failure of the system.