Why I Hate Process Documentation

And today's podcast, I will probably piss off a lot of consultants. Oh well. Welcome to the Intentional Success Podcast, where we impact the top strategies, explore business trends and drill down into best practices to help your life events production business grow in scale on purpose. I'm your host, Tom Stimson. With all due respect to the folks that have taken the time to document their processes or the followers of the many business operating systems out there that are in favor of processing documentation, I am not a fan. When it works, and if it works, I couldn't be happier for you, right? However, I rarely see these documentation initiatives do what they intend to do. And you will have no trouble finding a consultant, a coach, or a system that will rope you into a pointless documentation process that could take months or even years to achieve these admirable outcomes. And who wouldn't want a process that will help you learn what works and what doesn't. Make it so everyone will know their roles and responsibilities, enhance team work through organizational clarity and alignment, promote efficiency, ensure that we don't miss steps, introduce accountability into team work, and create transferable and trainable knowledge. Man, that just sounds awesome. And all of this, I presume, so you can grow and make more money while being the best you can be or some other positive thing. Here's my problem with it. You're assuming your processes work. And if they don't work, why in the world would you want to invest all the time it takes into documenting a huge mistake because processes are not simple? And if your processes do work, by all means, write them down. My question is, how do you know they work? Is your business perfect? Are your results always as expected? You know, I had, I once had a pro, and this has happened to me more than once, but I had a process prospect, explained to me that they were ready to start working on the big strategic issues inside their business, hire me, do all the things that I recommended, as soon as they finished their year-long process review and documentation process. And I quote, we can address the problems in our business until we have documented our processes. This will be our starting point. I'm sorry, I wanted to beat my head against the desk. And let me just say, in all efforts to them, they were following the advice of an operator of an operating system. And if that's what you choose to do, follow their advice. There's maybe a secret sauce in there that I don't get. I'm not there, I'm over here. Let me just say, though, that the most difficult part of being a consultant is undoing hard work. Telling somebody, hey, that's great. Yes, I review your 142 page document. Can we throw it out? Documenting the process of a dysfunctional business other than for analysis purposes seems like a real waste of effort. Now, I will get to the part when I counterintuitively support process documentation. But I have terms and conditions to that endorsement. So hang with me. So when someone reaches out to me about their need to document process, it is never because their processes are working. It is always because mistakes keep happening. And they want to hold someone accountable or they want to work around that someone that refuses to be held accountable. Yikes. So, yeah, it's no wonder I got a really bad taste for my mouth about this because we're putting the cart before the horse, right? Now, when I follow in order through the system, which is part of my process of doing an assessment of a business in that deep dive, I want to understand your existing processes specifically for the purpose of diagnosis. I'm looking for very simply, I'm looking for dead ends and bottlenecks, right? A dead end is when I hear, okay, what happens next in the interview, he says, well, it depends. It depends means that there is no clear path and someone is about to use their judgment to decide what to do next. That is not a process. It's winging it and it's okay. It often works just fine. However, as a show guy, I can tell you, we wing a lot of stuff on show site. However, if the diagnosis is that poor process is causing mistakes, then we want to eliminate dead ends. Now, bottleneck is when multiple processes flow through one person or one checkpoint that impedes flow. Sometimes that process needs a speed bump, but a bottleneck is where vital tasks are waiting in queue to be processed. A bottleneck cuts off oxygen for subsequent steps, which is the definition of inefficiency. So, assume we understand the problem that we are trying to solve. For instance, show prep is difficult. Items are overlooked and it takes multiple trips to get the right items to show site. Does this sound familiar? Okay, this is something we can all relate to. A review of the current process will reveal dead ends and bottlenecks and probably some major missing steps, right? We don't want to document the process we have because it's not working. What we're trying to do is when we try and document broad processes, we want to go to the first step. And the result is always the front loaded series of steps. So, if I look at the show prep step, I would go back to someone so prints the show prep order or so and so scrubs the order. Or maybe I'll move farther up in the chain. And I will have so many steps in there, but by the time we get to the critical physical tasks of prepping the order, putting the right gear, you know, in place to be loaded on the truck with their labels and everything else, we're exhausted. And no one wants to read that document. The longer the process takes them, we're likely they're going to be shortcuts later. So instead of documenting the existing broken process and filling in the gaps, which is what you're trying to do, you're trying to fix the mistakes, which is what a business operating system will tell you to do. The fix it as you go method, I say, here's what I recommend. Please start with defining the finished product of that process. Show prep is not a singular process. It is many processes stacked together and overlapping to define the show prep process. You can't start at the beginning. You have to start at the end. Okay, show prep for our purposes. For those of you who are uninformed on this is the process of getting the correct equipment and accessories pulled labeled documented and ready to ship the show site on time. Okay, the idea is that everything arrives as needed and when expected as a show guy, I think this is wonderful. I'd love to have this. Now this doesn't mean that prep is perfect, right? A good show prep means that no one on the show crew has to ask where anything is or when it's going to get there. Okay, all changes and shortcomings late deliveries asynchronous orders are communicated. It is imperfect, but it is serviceable. And anytime there's a hiccup in a change in plans that is also communicated. So to summarize, show prep, the prep is documented and communicated to the people we're delivering it to in the warehouse logs, the truck schedule. That is the outcome we're talking about for show prep. Now you can add more outcomes to this, but show prep is typically the domain of the warehouse manager. And once the truck is loaded, it's kind of out of their control, right? The gear is on the truck, the deliveries are scheduled. It's now in dispatch or logistics hands. They have done their job. Now, of course, there's other information the show crew needs, but that's not part of equipment prep. So let's stick within one very already very broad process and not worry about all the other showbook things that we have to do in order to keep the crew informed. So now we've defined prep as documentation and communication, the truck is loaded. Now we work backwards, right? Truck loading is the final step in prep actually communicating the manifest to the crew is the final step. And it's one of the many processes you're going to document. So how do you do the manifest? How do you load the truck? Those are also sub processes. But in the broader process, the warehouse manager can control what goes on the truck when it goes on it and how it's communicated. So let's work backwards. The warehouse manager sends the load manifest with case contents and details on outside deliveries to the crew. That's the final step. That means everything's complete. We've fulfilled before that the equipment was loaded for a safe unload and where possible with the highest priority needs first. In other words, if you need the motors on the tail of the truck, let's get the motors on the tail of the truck. As each item is loaded in correct order, remember we're working backwards. The contents need to be checked off the official manifest, the shipping manifest to document that the item was indeed loaded. Does no good to have it prepped if you didn't send it, right? The warehouse manager. Assembles the load team working backwards and reminds them of the process, the priorities, the safety requirements of the task ahead of them. Before that, the warehouse manager makes sure everything's labeled. Are the sub-renals accounted for? Are outside or out of sync deliveries verified? Are we ready to load? Before that, they had to double check the poll. Is the prep manifest complete? Before that, the prep lead informed the warehouse manager that the prepped order is ready for review. So now we've compartmentalized the process. We have an order that has been pulled and it is ready to load, which is the end of the prepping process. Now there are many more processes and sub-process behind those, but I've only got so much time, right? So reviewing our goals, the order is documented and communicated. The warehouse loads the truck as scheduled. Those two things complete the task. So reversing it, right? The loading process is the prep lead informs the warehouse manager that the prep is complete. The manager double checks the poll, verifies the labeling and counts for outside deliveries. The manager briefs the loaders on the plan and reminds them about safety. The shipping manifest is updated as the items are loaded. Everything is strapped down in the right order. The truck is ready to go. The manager sends the completed manifest to the crew. Now, you would define the prep process starting with what a completed prep looks like. So now we can go back another step. And here's the beautiful thing. Right. By defining the outcome before you define the steps, you improve your chances of preserving the intent of the process. You avoid front loading the steps and neglecting the key outcomes like double checking the manifest. How many of you do a shipping manifest after you've done your prep manifest? Right. You're missing a key point of failure stuff that didn't make it on the truck. Right. That extra set of eyes to make sure that we're getting our task done. And when you do all this, you invite the team to now use their skills and experience to execute the movements or tasks within the process that makes the most sense for the day. Right. When you start looking at process documentation as a promise fulfilled, you will reduce the need for unnecessary steps. If you document all the steps you have now, how do you know which steps are unnecessary? Which ones are you going to leave out? Now, when working from promise fulfilled, you can improvise the process on any given day, which makes the best use of your more experienced team members. But they can't deviate from the outcome. Right. Because you have defined what the finished job looks like. So before you succumb to the exercise of documenting processes, make sure they are already doing what you need them to do. And we do that by working backwards. I love process. If you need help with it and just give me a call, I love to talk about this stuff. Thanks for listening. If you want to find out more about today's episode, go to TRSTIMSEN.com/podcast where you'll find the show notes related links and tons of other valuable resources. If you haven't already subscribed to the Intentional Success Podcast, please do so and I'd greatly appreciate if you would rate and review the show. Also, if you think you might be a good fit to work together or want more information about the Stimson Group I'd love to hear from you, visit TRSTIMSEN.com for more information.