Friday, July 10, 2009
The meaning of Kaizen
I suddenly occurred to me that not everyone understands the meaning of Kaizen. Kaizen is a Japanese words that means improvement and betterment. I think that it is an obvious part of business process management. Managing business processes is a constant effort to improve (or kaizen) processes to bring about better results. If you would like to know more about Kaizen, I recommend you check out this link.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Business Process Management in Startups
Early on in my career, I had a tendency to use technological cannons to swat operational flies. I remember the time I was in a development team meeting and in answer to a architectural issue I suggested we re-write the whole application in Java. Then there was a time that I found out I could set up a Linux server for free! I excitedly told my wife how I wanted to set up a server for our home to facilitate communication among family members. She just asked "Why?". An excellent question and one I could not come up with a good answer for.
So when I propose that start up companies should start practicing Business Process Management, I need to stop and think about that myself. Hmmm. Yes, it is a good idea. I'll tell you why.
First, let's consider why it might not seem like a good idea at first blush. Here are some of the common objections. Low cost solutions don't provide the needed features. Solutions with the needed features are too expensive. It would take time away from other more important activities. Startups are so small, they don't have processes to manage. Let's examine these objections one at a time and see if they hold up.
Most low cost solutions don't provide needed features
I agree with this wholeheartedly. Like many of you I have used Visio and other drawing tools to capture and communicate process information. Visio is one of the best drawing tools out there. But it is not an effective business process management tool. The key missing feature is the management aspect. Management implies stewardship of a process. Drawing tools capture snapshots of a process in time and don't actually help you implement that process.
Needed BPM features are too expensive
Depending on how much you look at the industry, this is a very reasonable objection. If you look at the major players in the BPM industry, most of them cost an arm and a leg. And that is just the software licenses. If you add on support and maintenance, consulting, and an RFP process it looks incredibly expensive. But there are alternatives. Intalio has a BPM Suite with all the features you need to get your startup off the ground using BPM. If you go to bpms.intalio.com you can download a designer for creating your process and a server for executing those processes. And it is free. Yes, their community edition is free for the taking.
BPM takes resources away from more important activites
Resources in this case means time and money. The money issue we already talked about. You can download Intalio's community edition for free. Time is the other issue. At a startup who has the time to do business process management. I would turn that around and ask how can you afford not to do BPM at a startup? Saying you don't have time to manage your processes at a startup is like saying you don't have time to account for your finances. If I were a Venture Capitalist, I would be curious how you were managing your processes. I would have much more confidence in a company that demonstrated efficient and effective processes and how those processes would be improved over time.
All companies have processes. The question is how you manage them. If you are managing your processes based on pictures that may or may not be up to date or may or may not be followed by employees, you are managing blind.
BPM in a startup is not overkill. It is a necessity for viability and effective operations. You are welcome to disagree. If you do, I hope you will tell me and tell me why.
So when I propose that start up companies should start practicing Business Process Management, I need to stop and think about that myself. Hmmm. Yes, it is a good idea. I'll tell you why.
First, let's consider why it might not seem like a good idea at first blush. Here are some of the common objections. Low cost solutions don't provide the needed features. Solutions with the needed features are too expensive. It would take time away from other more important activities. Startups are so small, they don't have processes to manage. Let's examine these objections one at a time and see if they hold up.
Most low cost solutions don't provide needed features
I agree with this wholeheartedly. Like many of you I have used Visio and other drawing tools to capture and communicate process information. Visio is one of the best drawing tools out there. But it is not an effective business process management tool. The key missing feature is the management aspect. Management implies stewardship of a process. Drawing tools capture snapshots of a process in time and don't actually help you implement that process.
Needed BPM features are too expensive
Depending on how much you look at the industry, this is a very reasonable objection. If you look at the major players in the BPM industry, most of them cost an arm and a leg. And that is just the software licenses. If you add on support and maintenance, consulting, and an RFP process it looks incredibly expensive. But there are alternatives. Intalio has a BPM Suite with all the features you need to get your startup off the ground using BPM. If you go to bpms.intalio.com you can download a designer for creating your process and a server for executing those processes. And it is free. Yes, their community edition is free for the taking.
BPM takes resources away from more important activites
Resources in this case means time and money. The money issue we already talked about. You can download Intalio's community edition for free. Time is the other issue. At a startup who has the time to do business process management. I would turn that around and ask how can you afford not to do BPM at a startup? Saying you don't have time to manage your processes at a startup is like saying you don't have time to account for your finances. If I were a Venture Capitalist, I would be curious how you were managing your processes. I would have much more confidence in a company that demonstrated efficient and effective processes and how those processes would be improved over time.
All companies have processes. The question is how you manage them. If you are managing your processes based on pictures that may or may not be up to date or may or may not be followed by employees, you are managing blind.
BPM in a startup is not overkill. It is a necessity for viability and effective operations. You are welcome to disagree. If you do, I hope you will tell me and tell me why.
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