The Experience of Process Design

Process Redesign Redesign is the most creative part of the entire reengineering process. More than any other, it demands imagination, inductive thinking, and a touch of craziness. In redesigning processes, the reengineering team abandons the familiar and seeks the outrageous. Redesign asks the team members, especially the insiders, to suspend their belief in the rules, procedures, and values that they've honored their whole working lives.

Process Redesign Redesigning work process is not algorithmic and routine. There are no seven- or ten-step procedures that will mechanically produce a radical new process design. While redesigning may require creativity, it's not necessary to start with an entirely blank slate. Enough companies have now done reengineering to be able to discern some recurring patterns. Techniques that have proved effective for some companies will work for others.

Process Redesign Nontraditional processes do contain recurring characteristics and themes, just as traditional processes. Not many people know what these are yet, but they are reflections of the principles of reengineering that we have been discussing.

Process Redesign Some day the characteristics of reengineered business processes will undoubtedly be as obvious and as well known as the traditional business processes are today. The reason that these nontraditional characteristics and themes are not intuitively obvious to most people today is that they are still new. They have not yet become part of the collective conventional wisdom.

Process Redesign So how does a reengineering team proceed with its redesign effort? Some techniques have been developed that teams can use to get started. Below are some principles

Process Redesign Technique 1: Boldly apply one or more principles of reengineering. For Example Principle: work is best organized around outcomes, not tasks Principle: As few people as possible should be involved in the performance of a process.

Process Redesign Technique 2: Identify and eradicate assumptions Assumptions are deeply held beliefs that underlie and are built into almost every existing business process Example, field salespeople are not allowed to set the terms of the deal, it is a consequence of the assumption that salespeople put their own financial interests ahead of the company's in order to get a commission. The practice of paying suppliers only after receiving their invoices is based on an assumption that it would be impossible to correlate received goods directly with purchase orders

Process Redesign Technique 3: harness the disruptive power of information technology See what technology allows you to do, and then determine if this helps you rethink the process

Process Redesign In seminars, participants, after role-playing usually say they have discovered: You don't need to be an expert to redesign a process. Being an outsider helps. You have to discard preconceived notions. It's important to see things through the customer's eyes.

Process Redesign Redesign is best done in teams. You don't need to know much about the current process. It's not hard to have great ideas. Redesign can be fun.