Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2.1 Need
The first area of focus should be the need of the new process. If the current process or the
lack of one is disrupting business operations and affecting customers, then the need for a new
process is significant and worth considering. On the other hand, if the current process only
needs some fine-tuning and a bit more resource then a new process may not be necessary.
Below are some indications when a new process maybe required:
♦ There is no reference point for all work related to the process; everyone has a different
perspective on the detail and progress of each work item
♦ Shortcuts and alternatives to the process exist, resulting more focus and progress in some
areas than others
♦ Complaints from customers, whether internal or external, are increasing rather than
decreasing
♦ The cost of the current process outweighs the resulting benefits
Normally, the bigger the need for a new process, the less the effort required to influence the
stakeholders. Rolling out a process considered not critical nor relevant can be a real challenge
and will usually fail. The main question to ask is “What’s in it for the stakeholders?”
2.2 People
The right people can be the biggest factor to the potential success of the new process,
including the central team and the sponsors. It is therefore critical to select the right resources
for the relevant roles. The executive sponsor should have enough authority, while the central
team should have enough credibility and appropriate mix of skills.
The whole operation from developing to rolling out the process is about gaining confidence
from key stakeholders that the process will provide the appropriate outputs in the appropriate
timescale. It can be helpful, but not essential, that the central team has already developed a
certain amount of confidence with the stakeholders.
While the process is evolving, management of the process by the central team must be as
smooth and professional as possible in order to build up credibility. This can be challenging as
the process is still evolving, the volume of work is not accurately known and the audience is
still learning about the new process
2.4 Timing
Getting the timing right up front will set the process off in a positive manner, getting it wrong
will deem it irrelevant and therefore ignored by many stakeholders. It is only effective to roll
out a new process when there is a need for it now or in the very near future. If the need is too
far in the future, then the environment will likely change forcing many of the assumptions and
process inappropriate.
Timing is important; whether it’s the right time to develop, to agree or to launch a new
process depends mainly on the environment. Lots of processes have been shelved, not due to
poor logic or content, but bad timing. It is therefore essential to get the timing right, to
balance the pressure of getting the process up and running versus the lengthy but crucial
process of gaining buy-in from all stakeholders.
If the process is required but the timing is not yet right, a lot of preparations can be carried
out, e.g. getting lessons learned from similar processes, starting to select the potential team
and outlining the process. It is also useful to solicit inputs from potential stakeholders early.
2.5 Process
The process must be pragmatic and fit for purpose. Inputs from all key stakeholders must be
solicited to ensure buy-in. Start off with something simple in order to gain agreement from all
parties and the details of the process will evolve as it gets implemented; the larger the audience
the faster it will evolve.
Although it is not necessary to have the process detailed out from the beginning, it is
important to have a vision of the ideal process and the principles supporting. Changes and
customisations can then be made to the process without losing the end goals. For example, it
is essential to have a single point of entry for all inputs, how this is achieved in practice is less
important and depends on that working environment.
The main elements, with a strong focus on simplicity, of a process are:
♦ A flow chart with short descriptions explaining each step. It is also worth considering a
number of SLAs (service level agreement) indicating the average time for each stage
♦ Templates for inputs, outputs and interfaces to be filled in by users
♦ Templates for progress report depending customised for different stakeholders
♦ A database to track progress of each input.