Business Operations Today
The Lack of Definition

Business Operational Efficiency relies on consistency

Consistency relies on concise definition

Every business is a complex process. A process to make money or provide a service. The invention of the assembly line in the 1800's taught us that the most efficient way to complete a complex process was to do things by steps that were repeated exactly the same way. In order to do this, there has to be some mechanism that defines how a process is executed step-by-step.

Definition today is inadequate for significant improvement

A business is usually far more complex than a manufacturing assembly line because it has to deal with variables in the process. A process definition ( or recipe as it were) always does exist but in most businesses, that definition exists in pieces in the minds of the owners and employees. Each person knows the fine details of carrying out their particular tasks. The owners and managers have a broader knowledge of general operational details. But a complete description of even the most important processes almost never exists. This is the fundamental root cause of most operational errors and business Process inefficiency.

The results of poor Process definition

If a process cannot be executed the same way every time, it has no hope of reaching a high level of efficiency. When consistency relies on everyone remembering clearly all the details and variations of their business processes, it's not hard to see why most business processes retain a fair degree of chaos. Without process consistency, it's very difficult to identify the specific areas where the process breaks down or has difficulty. Without clear identification of process difficulties, the problems cannot be effectively analyzed to generate and implement solutions. Even if good solutions are found and implemented, without process definition, lessons learned can become lessons forgotten.

Why Process definition remains poor

So why do most business processes remain undefined at the level required to significantly improve? The simple answer is that until now, there has never been a good solution. Even if the process descriptions were written in a document that was available to all who needed it and kept up-to-date, experience has shown us that it wouldn't be used effectively. It would help, but to reach maximum efficiency, the process details have to be an integral part of the tools of the process.

The solution

So we will introduce a concept called a "Process Director". Just like in a movie or play, a Process Director is the mechanism that assures that all the details of a process will be executed consistently and correctly. A Process Director makes sure that what is needed is available and the important details of the steps needed to get things done are easily understood and controlled. A Process Director assures that improvements and modifications will be remembered and seamlessly incorporated into the process execution.