Process for Process sake is stupid

[reposted from my yahoo 360 blog 2/23/06]

Easier done that thought about.

Sometimes, I just think its part of "Corporate Culture". Sometimes, I think people just don't use their brains that much. The problem with most organizations is that they have a tendency of doing things just because "It's always been done that way!". That has got to be the lamest, most unimaginative, and downright pathetic thing I have ever heard.

Process Management, or what is more used nowadays as "Process Improvement" techniques, actually stem out from the need to "optimize" work and introduce more "effecient" ways of doing things. Methodologies such as CMM and CMMI aim to attain levels of "Maturity" and espouse "Continuous Process Improvement". Others like ISO and Six Sigma aim to improve the "Quality" of the organization and its products.

In all honesty, these things are good. I am not bashing at process methodologies nor am I singling out any of them. In fact, I am a firm believer of processes in the workplace. However, we must always be reminded that these processes are TOOLS used by the organization to achieve more tangible benefits. These activities should always contribute to the bottomline of the organization... otherwise it's not worth doing.

"But all we need is to strictly enforce the process and everything will be ok."

Wrong. Dead Wrong.

If people hesitate doing the process. There is something wrong with it. Process owners need to understand why this is happening. You can never say that there is lack of support or it's taking some time for people to accept the new process. This is simply a telltale sign that the benefits of doing the process is not that acceptable.

Process of the People, for the People, and by the People.

Over the years that I worked with certain processes such as CMM, CMMI, UML/RUP, and the ever notorious SDLC, there are a couple of key learnings that I discovered. This may not be all of it, but it's what struck me the most.

• The Process must be in line with the organizations' objectives. For companies, it's their mission and vision. This answers the question "Why am I doing this?".
• The Process (or part of it) must directly benefit the person doing that part of the process. You can never enforce a process that is only beneficial to only a portion of the organization that does the process. This is simply saying, "What do I get out of this?".
• The Process must have tangible benefits to the organization. This is the realization that doing the process does actually contribute to the organizations' objective. This answers the question, "How do i know that it works?"

I placed an emphasis on the must because its a must. No kidding! It really is! (I could actually just live on the 2nd bullet but I don't want to be that greedy, haha!) As Project Managers, we must always consider these items whenever we implement certain processes in our Projects. Be sensitive on how your team's acceptance of the process you are implementing. Not because it work's for someone elses' project does it mean that it will work for yours. The important thing there is that everybody knows why they're doing the process, what they'll be getting out of it, and how they will know that its' working.