This Focused Performance Weblog is a "business management blog" containing links and commentary related primarily to organizational effectiveness with a "Theory of Constraints" perspective. TOC is noted for its applications in Project Management and Multi-Project Management (Critical Chain) and Operations Management (Drum-Buffer-Rope), as well as in Marketing, Strategic Planning and Change Management (TOC Thinking Processes). If you are on an archive page, current postings are found here.
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Justifying Process Change/Improvement -- Over in one of the discussion groups in Gantthead, the following question was posed...
"I am working with a well known...company and I have been charged justifying why they should change their current development process. Right now, there is very little documentation and/or metrics. All of the usual problems exist. I know what the obvious benefits are to enhancing their process, but does anyone have anything more detailed?"
"All of the usual problems exist."
What is the total bottom line impact of these "usual problems" and of dealing/living with them?
What is the ballpark cost of delays, rework, delays, CYA activity, delays, managing to conflicting measures, delays, going too far down dead ends too slowly, and delays?
You don't need a lot of "documentation and/or metrics" to do a good enough analysis of the situation. Simply sit with the key stakeholders individually and discuss the "usual problem" that they would put at the top of their hit list -- people are happy to "bitch and moan" about such things, and a lot of info can be gleaned from such discussions. After all, they know the "costs" associated with their pet peeves...all the painful things they have to do as a result of its existence.
Once you've collected the big "undesirable effects" of the current system, they need to become the targets of the new system. That way, everyone involved will have "a dog in the fight" and will see benefit from supporting it. As important as any big number total value is in getting peoples attention, the individual problems solved for the stakeholders will be even more so for assuring buy-in, support, and collaboration. (And just because you "know the obvious benefits" doesn't help them see the benefit in their terms.)
The TOC Thinking Processes provide an approach to such analyses. I've facilitated enough of them to have really come to appreciate the benefits of building buy-in along with the solution itself. Without the former, the latter has little chance.
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