Smart Artefacts

Process Models

Ask — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 10:26:19 +0000

Finding the right process model for your company has become a multi-billion dollar business for some. It does not need to be all that complicated. Most companies don’t care what the process model is as long as it helps clarify the processes and activities.
We believe that before you even attempt to define processes – let alone adopt a process model, you should be fairly certain about what your organisation is trying to achieve. Once you know this, and believe me it is sometimes well hidden from view, you will be able to define processes to help you achieve your organisation’s goals.
There are three distinct levels at which you need to define processes. The first level is normative or governance – basically the level where direction is given to the organisation. Typically the non-executive members of a board would be doing the activities defined in these processes. These include defining direction, strategic outcomes and policies for the organisation to follow. The activities in these peocesses would be designed to Monitor, Evaluate, Direct.
The next level of processes would address activities at the system management level. Systems in this case being the collection of processes or process models that define work at the lower levels. For example, the activities that are typically in a process at this level would have activities that concern the creation of processes in the operational level, the monitoring of results and the corrective actions that need to be put in place and modified to ensure operational success aligned with normative objectives. The Demming cycle of Plan, Do, Check, Act is valid here – the activities are NOT operational in nature though, they are Operational Design if you must have a label for them.
Finally, at the Operational Level processes are groups of activities that are done to achieve an output that contributes to achieving organisational goals / outcomes. The Demming cycle is also very applicable here.
A different view of a process model would be as follows:

Level 1: Creates / finds and communicates the direction;
Level 2: Creates / finds and communicates the right things to do;
Level 3: Do things right.

Now, in the spirit of smart artefacts, can you think of the types of artefacts you would need to communicate and illustrate your process model, management framework and processes? Our next discussion will be about process artefacts and how they interact with each other.

Why do Processes?

Ask — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:08:28 +0000

There is a growing contingent of business people who believe their quirky, off-the-cuff style can replace processes. Are they wrong?

Well, they aren’t wrong, processes are really not there for the individual to be creative!

Or is that statement also wrong?

Processes help organisations retain knowledge, they help standardise things, they help the organisation to be able to repeat something fairly consistently. So, if you have poor processes that are religiously followed your organisation will be consistently poor. You must engage the process to make any significant difference in your outcomes if you want to improve.

So the fundamental problem is how do we remain creative then? We want creativity to be focused at the output of our process in such a way that the outcome of the process is improved and meets the specific requirements of the business. Processes allow you to be creative because it removes the uncertainty in what needs doing. Creativity can then be focused where it is needed most instead of creativity being wasted on re0inventing the process AGAIN.

Smart Artefacts

Ask — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:19:31 +0000

Welcome to Smart Artefacts. You may not know what that is all about but hey – does anyone? The Rozetta Stone may have been a smart artefact …….

We try and make smart business artefacts. This site is about trying to get you to understand what an artefact is, how you use them in your daily business life and how you can improve your life by creating smarter artefacts. All the outputs from your daily work are artefacts, not only the products you manufacture but all the reports, minutes and presentations you produce in your daily work. Are they smart? Can they be smarter?

We believe thay can be smarter. When you look at the multiple models and techniques out in the marketplace to assist you in making your organisation leaner, more eco friendly, improve quality and optimise resources, there is no real understanding of the artefacts that we use. Without a better understanding of the artefacts that are in use in your organisation, any advice at improving your organisation may be limited in its success.

Artefacts are ultimately the output from a particular process either as a final product or as input to another process. Focus on making these artefacts smarter is our number one priority.