Economy Prods Business To Recognize Necessity Is Mother Of Invention And BPM Is Her First Born

There are some fabulous examples of companies who get it. “It” is the urgent and important need to do things differently. It’s so simple, in fact, that it trips otherwise smart people up and is sending more businesses of all shapes and sizes to the brink. Simplicity is so elusive.  We crave complexity – particularly in our work – so we can show off our unique skills and maintain our competitive advantage as individuals. That lust for complexity, individual notoriety and competition among our own ranks is what is killing us off, my friends. Striving for simple and cooperative when conditions are such as they are is what saves us. Your competition is out there, not in here. Your customer wants your product, not you. Your price comes down and your quality goes up when you get simple. You get simple when you learn to manage your business process with the right intentions, motivations and vision.

Learn From Example

The very best example I have seen this year is that of Hyundai. Not only are they making a far better product than in the past, they have applied process innovation to their marketing and sales strategy at a time when every other major car manufacturer is bailing out. The adage that you can leverage economic crisis to your advantage with marketing and sales is true. They have stepped up sales to rental agencies, launched a new advertising campaign and re-engineered their financing allowing customers to return financed cars they can no longer afford without any penalties and without any credit score blemish. I was floored when I read about it in Business Week magazine (February 23, 2009).

What If?

What Hyundai has done – and what many other companies out there are doing – is successfully asked “what if?” The rules are changing in very big ways and you need to change and innovate just as quickly (if not faster). Hanging on to old notions of how things are done (the very essence of BPM’s mission is to slay that kind of thinking) is what will drag you down. Your business cannot outlast transformed environmental conditions. These economic conditions, this climate is having the same chilling effect on Circuit City (RIP) as the last ice age had on the sabre-toothed tiger. A once feared creature that refuses to adapt will soon die. Look around and ask “what if” until you find an adaptation you can build consensus around. Then overcome your fears and resistance and act. Take the bold step Hyundai took with their financing terms. Do something “unheard of”.

Is Present Reality (Current State) a Prerequisite for Design of the Future State?

Once in awhile, a riddle so obscure and enigmatic comes along that it baffles and stumps most of our brightest thinkers and deepest philosophers, qualifying as a Zen koan. Like the sound of one hand clapping or the sight of your face before you were conceived, the answer cannot really be found in any conventional sense. Well, in my humble opinion good people, the tension between current state and future state and the need to document and analyze the “as-is” prior to taking on the “to-be” doesn’t qualify as a Zen Koan or a crossword puzzle for that matter. There is no question. You have to understand the present dynamics and process in order to sensibly develop something new.

I know that I will offend some of the business process management wizards and high priests by saying as much but my position is one of firmly believing in the value of documenting and analyzing the current state to ensure a high quality future. Frankly, jumping into the design of the future state without regard for a rather precise current state is irresponsible. Not unlike asking someone how they’d like to perform in graduate school without first ascertaining whether they can read or not. Or promising someone full health without first diagnosing their diabetes. The present state in business tells a vast and deep story that shapes the possible and potential future.

Dangerous “Experts”

I attended a conference recently (devoted to the adoption of EMR in physician practices) whereupon I was able to listen to a discussion at our lunch table between a woefully ignorant doctor who wondered aloud what it would take to implement such a thing as an electronic medical record and an “expert” across the table who piped up and assured him that he needn’t worry about how things are done in in his practice today. He would only be required to imagine what life would be like with his new system. What a  load!

Notwithstanding that particular “consultant” and his advice to the good doctor, it got me wondering, “How many of my colleagues would suggest the same?” I wish I could survey all of my BPM brothers and sisters out there. Do you honestly think you can account for all of the business rules, decision-making, forms, customer preferences, suppliers, and key metrics involved in a process without concerning yourselves with the current state. Do you really think you can skip that step and begin modeling the future state without compromising quality or any other vital business attribute? I think not.

Change without consideration for the present is invention

Don’t get me wrong. I love to invent stuff and get wickedly creative when given a chance to roam free. However, invention cannot capture all of the good reasons why my system dynamics are what they are and cannot account for the benefits and value inherent in my current state without first elucidating them. Failing to harvest and capture the good, the rules, the data, the preferences, and the logic and simply launching into invention risks losing a lot including compliance with standards of all kinds. The risks involved can cause an invented business process to become fatally flawed in short order, grinding business to a halt.

Take your time and carefully document what you do today and how you do it. Inventing the wrong thing, failing and trying weeks or months later to return to an undocumented state is fools work.