Don’t blame the process

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.

red tape

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.

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RobTatman

Rob is a consultant, technologist, facilitator and outdoorsman. He lives with his wife in Henley-on-Thames.

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