Processes And Digital DNA!

Processes And Digital DNA: Witch Hunting And The Right Tool!

In 14th-century Europe, a very old practice that had been abandoned and even abolished in the early middle ages was revived: witch-hunting.

Especially after the Black Death, which decimated about 1/3 of the population, when something went wrong, the first suspicion was witchcraft. The crops burned and the harvest was lost? Witchcraft! The dams dried up and there was little rain. Witch! Someone seemed to be in an “altered spirit” and sick? Witch!

Blame-finding/Finding the culprit

This unfortunately is the standard thinking that has been repeated since the beginning of mankind: to find the culprits. Human beings learn to blame and run away from blame or responsibility long before they even learn how to do something. When we talk about human lives being hunted, the harm of this kind of attitude becomes evident.

When we look at our contemporary reality, this kind of thinking no longer causes executions in public squares. But inside our companies, this kind of witch hunt still exists and serves as a testament to what kind of management is present in the business. What’s more, it demonstrates that the company is not managed by processes and results, but rather by “results or blame”.

The Process Management

Process Management (not to be confused with Process Management, which is something different) brings companies a different view of the business structure and how value is generated and delivered to the customer. We stop having the work of Mr. So-and-so, Buyer, or Mr. Sicrano, Financial and start having the process of “Purchases and payments”, for example.

The business is analyzed through the lens of flows and deliveries: what information/material is entered at the beginning of the process and what should be delivered at the end. Did something go wrong?

Let’s analyze the process to identify if what was done is adherent to what was planned. And if not, why not. It is even possible that we identify a human error in the process.

But when we analyze the failure we can identify several reasons why that failure occurred. Including a badly designed process that induces an error or an inadequate tool to fulfill the process.

A second component of Process Management: is the tools!

And here we have the second component of Process Management: the tools! Every process needs the appropriate tool to be operationalized. When Henri Ford innovated the manufacturing process by creating the production line (they were no longer watertight production cells, but the item being produced being moved around the factory and assembled in a sequential work) he also brought innovations in the materials and components needed for the assembly of his Model T.

The appropriate set of processes and tools is what effectively brings gains to the company with the optimization of resources, shorter lead times, and/or greater reliability and quality.

A very common mistake in most companies is to believe that the purchase of computers, software, or gadgets is already enough to automate and bring benefits. And this could not be more wrong…

Let’s take our example of the “Purchasing and Payments” process. The businessman believes that Mr. So-and-so, the Buyer, will get a productivity boost by acquiring a brand new quotation and purchasing software. He forgot, however, to check whether this software has an integration with the management of payments or with the receipt of purchases. These steps now have very functional controls for your area, but completely independent from each other.

We have the posting of redundant information in different controls and a greater possibility of errors. The purchasing task has been automated, but the “Purchasing and payments” process has not.

Digital DNA for new companies (and its equivalent Digital Transition for existing companies) brings the real gain of automation of workflows that have been created within an efficient Process Management. No more isolated tasks, witch hunts, and spending on inefficient tools. Organized processes, optimized resources, and created results.