Process Flow
Let me be frank. I love process and change management but I hate process flows. Confusing, eh? Well, not really. To be completely honest, a well-designed business process works wonders for an IT professional. Not only do they show all of your inputs, outputs and decisions, but they also define responsibility. Responsibility leads to accountability and I’m in favor of that.
Now, to what I hate about process flows. I hate process flows that are forced into place against business or best practice. Particularly processes that are implemented for the sake of having a process. This is bureaucracy at its’ finest.
Every organization needs to identify frameworks that apply to them and validate which portions work for their business. Most frameworks, including the ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) are designed to be implemented in pieces that are customized. They are not a one-size fits all solution. Implement the pieces that apply to your business and look at implementing other pieces when your business needs it.
In many instances, organizations want to follow ITIL without any real knowledge of what that entails. Thousands of dollars are spent implementing processes without an end goal in mind for the sake of “best practice.” The end goal must be determined by the business before frameworks are put in place. You get out of a system or process what you put into it. One of the largest drivers of frameworks are governmental or industry compliance. Many times I have seen compliance auditors push a process or improvement without guidance to the business.
Simply said, if you automate a BS process, you get BS at the speed of light. This doesn’t matter if you’re a small business or a Fortune 500 company.
In my next article I will discuss how to put a process in place that will be more easily accepted by the business and embraced by your teams. Not only can your team flourish when following good, solid practices, but your productivity will increase, and not decrease, like I have seen.
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