Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Build in Applicable Conditions
Processes are guidelines — not laws. Good processes should have some
flexibility through “side” branches emanating from a main process, with
members of the group empowered to take them if the situation demands.
In the case of the example above, if the pr ocess requiring building
inspector's clearance was required only based on the dimensions or weight
of the acquired hardware, it would have been an improved process without
burdening all those it does not affect.
Benefits of Processes
Process as Learning
The act of formally developing a process is sometimes its most useful
aspect. For example, trying to develop a PERT (Program Evaluation Review
Technique) chart for a project before beginning it has value even if the
PERT chart is ignored later during project execution. In software devel-
opment, one uses this concept implicitly in developing reusable code and
modules. Developing a reusable piece of code requires one to think
through many details carefully. Every piece of code that works is not
reusable merely because it works. It is this thinking through the design,
and future usage scenarios, that is probably as valuable as the actual
benefits of reusing the code in other projects and products. This is the
same idea in the proverb that it is better to teach someone how to fish
than to provide him with fish.
Processes as a Growth Vehicle
One example where this is obvious is the concept of franchising. Fran-
chising is one way some businesses grow. Franchising may have started
in the 19th century through informal agreements, but modern-day fran-
chising came into being with restaurants and fast food. It is now used as
a growth strategy in manufacturing, wholesale, real estate, service, and
retail businesses. Even the healthcare (hospitals, clinics), accounting, and
education (schools, childcare) sectors have expanded in recent years with
a lot of success. The number-one prerequisite for determining the
suitability for franchising (marketing and financial need notwithstanding)
is that the business and its working processes should be teachable. These
systems and operating procedures should be packageable in a way that
others are capable of replicating them. Only such modularity and repli-
cability can ensure that a customer gets an identical experience with any
franchisee — identical in everything from the marketing messages, to the
