This MQ article on decision-making raises the recurring theme of ‘process’ as a pejorative term:
The word “process”
It’s boring.
It immediately conjures up images of bureaucracy and slowness and decisions by committee—all things associated with bad management.
This reminds me of a recent experience at a startup. “Let me know if there’s anything you need”, said the founder.
I nearly didn’t ask. My corporate conditioning had taught me to expect a stifling blanket of paperwork, admin, discussions, meetings and general hassle. A horrible process.
These guys should be different, I thought. I’ll give it a go…
“I need a Balsamiq licence” (a nifty piece of software for creating low-fi wireframe sketches of user interfaces)
Ten minutes later and I’m knocking up wireframes in Balsamiq. I couldn’t believe it. Zero bureaucracy. So refreshing.
What multiples of the fee ($79 for an annual single-user licence) would the average corporate have incurred in labour costs for the time of those making this decision?
‘Process’ gets a bad rap. It’s really just poor thinking and process design that’s to blame.
