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Three
flow killers
The forces that slow down
businesses, clog processes
and inhibit growth
Noise Drag
Flow is
what makes
it all work
You know the feeling.
The flow
dividend
Flow isnt just a great But, surprisingly, very few The benefits of flow reach
companies think much about flow. into every corner of the
feeling; its also one of Thats a big missed opportunity, organization, touching sales,
the most important because: marketing, customer service,
manufacturing, finance, retail,
contributors to the Teams that achieve flow HR, IT and operations
success of any project, dramatically out-perform of every kind.
any team and any teams that dont.
In short, flow is how things
company. rocesses that flow are
P are supposed to work.
faster, more elegant and
more efficient.
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Three flow killers 4
Flow is
user-centric
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Three flow killers 5
When flow
breaks
Unfortunately, flow is Without it, everything The weird thing is that no single
slows down. person is responsible for destroying
a hard thing to achieve flow. And nobody knows where
and a fragile one when Deadlines slip past it went or why. So nobody really
and budgets bloat. has the perspective needed to
it arrives. get it back.
People get irritable and
the blaming starts. We think thats worth fixing.
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Three flow killers 6
The three
flow killers
At Xerox, weve been Weve seen flow blossom in Friction Every organization large or small,
a hugely diverse range of Inefficiency caused by poor public sector or private suffers to
a part of thousands organizations and markets process design or communication varying degrees from all three of
of intensive process from massive healthcare systems dynamics. these flow killers.
to city parking departments and
improvement projects, from customer care centers to Noise And every organization can benefit
outsourcing programs commercial printers. Information overload and from exposing them, identifying
and systems re- the resulting data blindness. their impact on critical processes,
Weve also seen the forces that and working to minimize them.
engineering journeys. act against flow. That drag teams Drag
down and glue up processes. Getting held back from doing Lets look at them one at a time.
the things youre best at.
Three of these forces the big
three flow killers are especially
destructive and all too common:
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Friction
Three flow killers 8
Friction
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Three flow killers 9
Friction
What causes friction Why friction kills flow Data becomes useful knowledge
of something that matters when
Poor process design processes Lead times and lag times soar it builds a bridge between a
that arent user-centric or goal- Projects and departments go question and an answer. This
driven; out-dated processes; over budget connection is the signal.
processes that dont scale well... Morale sinks and finger-
pointing starts CIO Magazine
November 2014, citing AtTask Survey
Ineffective communication Things fall between the
structures ad hoc workflows; process cracks
de-centralized knowledge stores; Users develop clunky
excessive email workarounds
Processes are un-documented
The wrong technology for the and not measureable
job the wrong applications; mis-
configuration; poorly integrated
apps
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Three flow killers 10
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Three flow killers 11
Reducing friction Isolate and analyze critical Ask your users Benchmark your processes
processes in detail mapping they know the most about work with partners who share
is a major challenge where they touch other processes, processes and their weaknesses. your outlook and experience.
for every leader. technologies and people. Consult them early and often.
Consider a framework
Fortunately, once Relentlessly remove steps Measure what matters formal systems like Six Sigma,
its recognized, there a shorter process is almost develop process metrics that TQM and Lean are powerful
are many process always a better one (with reflect actual goals; track them ways to spot and solve friction in
exceptions). and share the insight. complex processes.
lubricants available,
including these: Automate what you can Design best-fit collaboration Run through this checklist for any
human touches are expensive tools different processes of your processes. There is real,
and error-prone; use them only demand different workflows and measurable improvement hiding
when they add value. communication platforms (hint: in these simple steps.
email is rarely the best choice).
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Think lean
Noise
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Three flow killers 15
Noise
Both signal and noise are Data sources are incompatible Insight doesnt make it to the
generated anywhere data is and no one does the hard work of point of use
generated which is pretty much integrating them properly. Management cant measure or
everywhere, these days. But signal manage what matters
turns to noise when: Too many applications are in use Mistakes are repeated rather
instead of consolidating around than lessons learned
Data is collected for its own sake a small core of key apps. Customer-facing people cant
instead of for a good reason. personalize interactions
Applications are poorly Decisions about optimizing
People take data quality for integrated with hand-coded operations are blind
granted raw data is almost links instead of robust interfaces. People spend more time
never ready for use; it needs to wrangling data than analyzing it
be cleaned and validated. People fall in love with eye Teams dont know if theyre
candy not seeing that the pretty going in the right direction
dashboards mask irrelevant or
untrustworthy data beneath.
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Three flow killers 16
Theres a certain Agree on a small set of key Rationalize your application Think about need to know
metrics decide as a team what portfolio reduce the number use roles-based access to reports
amount of noise you really need to track and why. of apps and retire the unused. and data to keep the noise down.
in every system.
Limit your data sources Align your data scientists Apply these ideas to any of your
But when the noise just because its available with your business users processes, teams or departments
drowns out the signal, doesnt mean its necessary. get the data geeks to sit down and you will reduce the noise and
you need to take with the process owners; bring out the signal.
Apply a little data governance supply the pizza; do it often.
action: make sure theres a process for
cleaning and integrating your Capture and market your best
data so its valid and compatible. insights let everyone know what
the data is telling you and why it
matters; celebrate the signal
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Drag
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Drag
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Drag
Drag comes from doing things Fiefdoms power centers It diverts resources with high It turns real experts into
the way youve always done them. grow up around departments overheads in the wrong areas and housekeepers knowledge
Its roots lie in: and disciplines and they defend lean budgets where you ought to workers are too important
their turf. be spending. (and expensive) to waste
Failing to identify core on drudgework.
competencies no clear direction Fear of change the perceived It wastes management time on
from above about what business risk of moving keeps leaders stuck non-core activities diverting It causes under-performance
youre really in. to the status quo. them from areas where they can and over-spend in the areas
really add value. that would be better managed
Missing outsourcing Failure to benchmark not elsewhere.
opportunities whole processes knowing what good looks like. It saps morale with your best
that would be better performed people saying, I wasnt hired Low-value processes slow
by a supplier. for this. down the high-value ones
acting as a drag on productivity
and efficiency.
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Three flow killers 20
Reducing drag is Decide whats core and whats Ask your stakeholders discover Invite potential partners in to
not make it clear to everyone which processes frustrate them discuss the way you do things and
a major challenge exactly what business youre in, the most and which they need to how they might change that.
for every leader. what your strengths are and what keep close.
you will always do in-house. Do a business case show your
Fortunately, once Identify outsourcing management team the value of
its recognized, there Benchmark your most expensive opportunities list all the outsourcing and minimizing drag.
are many process processes find out whether processes or sub-processes that
youre really as good at them as look like good candidates for
lubricants available, you think. moving out of house.
including these:
Prioritize the low-hanging fruit
decide which processes will
generate the quickest and greatest
returns with the least risk.
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Getting your
flow back
Talk to us.
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