Today’s guest blogger, Brian Chaney, was recently featured on a Metastorm webinar, “Get Leaner Faster with Business Process Management,” that discussed best practices to kick start a Lean initiative using a Business Process Management (BPM) tool.

En route home from one of my latest trips, I received an email asking me to write a blog post about business process improvement projects.

As I sat on the airplane, and the pilot announced that we were next for takeoff, I thought, “This is all going just as planned. The process is working great, and in a few hours I will be home after a week of traveling.”

That’s when the engine and plane stopped. What had gone wrong?

Well, planning is the answer. The air traffic control out of Atlanta had stopped us on the taxiway because of some sort of congestion. Although there was undoubtedly a plan for us to take off at a certain time, some other factor had disrupted it.

That is when I started to think about how, to any business process improvement project, proper planning is just as important as process discovery. Planning out your work, goals, participants, and time helps tremendously in the entire process. And, just like the plane trip home, planning does not mean that there won’t be any turbulence or disruptions during the flight.

In fact, planning will help you be prepared for the turbulence.

The same way the airlines tell you to buckle up – there is some rough air ahead! – proper planning helps move you and your team members along your process modeling and improvement efforts, and helps you overcome and continue to move forward even if you do face turbulence.

So often we are having a pain in a particular area and just jump into buying, fixing, or even changing the business process and technology without properly planning or asking the important questions first. What solution do we need, and how will we use it? What solution best enables us to understand and improve our business processes and subsequently execute improved processes? How can we make use of our existing technologies, and does this solution aid us in doing so?

If you don’t take the time to plan properly, your team may initially be successful in spite of itself, which in turn creates a false sense that your success can be repeated again and again without “wasting time” to plan out your work. I have seen this attitude fail at the most inconvenient time – when things are the most critical to the business.

So, where do you start planning? This goes back to an acronym that I live by, and that is KISS, or Keep It Simple, Silly – or any other way that you have heard is stated. There are two simple questions that you need to answer:

1. Why are you starting the project? Without this simple, two line mantra you will wander all over the place never knowing whether or not you are headed toward the Promised Land.

2. What is the end objective? What I mean by that is – get an agreement or understanding from the project sponsors of what the definition of success is to them.

So, by now you will know where you are going, and how to recognize when you get there. But between Alpha and Omega, or the beginning and the end, there is something in between, and a time box that you should identify. Identifying key dates and milestones will help to ensure that the tasks are going according to plan. This allows for a redirection of resources if the milestones are not being met.

Finally, time box your entire effort. Analysis is integral, but make sure you avoid Analysis Paralysis by ensuring you keep it on a schedule, and that the project continues to move forward. Keeping things to a shorter time frame motivates the team to get things done – this prevents you from falling victim to the dreaded “never-ending project.”

To conclude I want to reiterate the high importance of planning your project out. Keeping things time boxed, and keeping your goals in mind will help to ensure a successful project. And don’t forget, keeping your sanity during the entire process should be one of your goals too.

Happy planning and Good Luck!

==========================

Brian Chaney is the Director of IT Strategy & Architecture at Copper River IT where he is responsible for Enterprise Architecture, BPM development, CMMI compliance and other process-centered areas. Brian has guided Six Sigma projects, more than 50 Enterprise Architecture initiatives, and successfully completed the life-cycle of Six Sigma and Enterprise Architecture into BPM.

Brian is a Six Sigma Black Belt with a proven track record of structuring and implementing projects that yield measurable results including reduced customer wait time, productivity gains through multiple change and improvement initiatives, and cost savings.

Related posts:

1. Process improvement projects- cut the fat to get lasting results Recently WSJ.com featured an article that examined why, like many...
2. The US Air Force gets Leaner with Metastorm This week Infonomics, AIIM’s weekly newsletter, featured a podcast with...
3. It’s the People, Stupid! I have been working with clients on complex projects for...
4. Get Leaner Faster with Business Process Management Last week we hosted a webinar entitled, “Get Leaner Faster...
5. BPM for Quality – Insurance Exec Shares Insights Who does not want to improve quality within their organization?  ...