emergent process design

www.JobTraQ.com© Swift Software 2013

Emergent Process Design

Embedded Discovery & Opportunistic Optimizations

- as a Strategy


Emergent Process Design - Why?

• What if I have an obvious productivity or chaos problem in a team but I can’t spot the cause?

• What if I don’t have time to figure the problem out? Can JobTraQ still help?

• Can JobTraQ help me implement productive change into a resistant team or culture, or a badly fragmented process?


Emergent Process - Defined

• “Emergence can be defined as the arising of novel and coherent structures, patterns and properties during the process of self-organization in complex systems". – Economist Jeff Goldstein – Journal Emergence

• A methodical alternative for the patient tinkerer plodding towards perfection – empowering the flywheel


Why we take on automation

Time >>>

Pro

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ivity

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For what we think will happen

It’s simple. We want positive change!

Time >>>

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ivity

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The Phases of Positive Change

Announcement

Deployment

AchievementPro

duct

ivity

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The Phases of Positive Change

Announcement

Deployment

AchievementPro

duct

ivity

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Time >>>

Communication


What your employees think is about to happen

Deployment

Measurement

Unemployment<<

< P

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ctiv

ity

Time >>>

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The Reality of Positive Change

Announcement

Deployment

AchievementPro

duct

ivity

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>

Time >>>

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The Reality of Positive Change

Announcement

Deployment

AchievementPro

duct

ivity

>>

>

Time >>>

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*Why?


The Negative Realities of Positive Change

Wait & See

Friction

Change StateFric

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*• Water cooler chat

level = low• Not sure how this will

impact me• Rumors of benefit• Anything will be better

than “this old system”



Wait & See

Friction

Change StateFric

tion

>>

>P

rodu

ctiv

ity >

>>

Time >>>

*

*• Water cooler chat level = high• I hear we are going to have to

double entry• Rumors of trouble with new

system• Why would they want to change

from “this great old system”!?



Wait & See

Friction

Change StateFric

tion

>>

>P

rodu

ctiv

ity >

>>

Time >>>

*

*• Water cooler chat level = high• I hear we are going to have to

double entry• Rumors of trouble with new

system• Why would they want to change

from “this great old system”!?

• The double entry is real! We have to put data in the old system AND the new system!

• I hear there is an automated weekly report in there called Optimal Staff Reductions!


Flashback!

Deployment

Measurement

Unemployment<<

< P

rodu

ctiv

ity

Time >>>

*

So, what exactly WOULD you say you

do here Tom?

Copyright Twentieth Century Fox, Cubicle Inc


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The First Rays of Hope!

Wait & See

Friction

Change StateFric

tion

>>

>Critical Mass

30%P

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ctiv

ity >

>>

Time >>>

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The Process of Positive Change

Wait & See

Deployment

Change StateFric

tion

>>

>Critical Mass

30%P

rodu

ctiv

ity >

>>

Time >>>

*


The Continuing Process of Positive Change

Wait & See

Deployment

Change StateFric

tion

>>

>Critical Mass

30%P

rodu

ctiv

ity >

>>

Time >>>

*


An Alternative

• The Standard Way of Managing Change Does Work! – Discover– Plan– Implement– Test– Communicate– Train– Deploy– Perform Friction Management – and repeat!

• Emergent Process Improvement works better, WHERE IT FITS...


The Frog

• If you drop a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will of course frantically try to clamber out. But if you place it gently in a pot of tepid water and turn the heat on low, it will float there quite placidly. As the water gradually heats up, the frog will sink into a tranquil stupor, exactly like one of us in a hot bath, and before long, with a smile on its face, it will unresistingly allow itself to be boiled to death.

- Version of the story from Daniel Quinn's The Story of B


Emergence Opportunities:

• The natural system is not clear, or… is clearly chaotic• Some form of coherence or correlation (meaning

integrated operations that develop or maintain themselves over some period of time);

• Parts of the perceivable larger system can be tracked• Dynamic processes or results• There is a valid downward cause



• Your organizations already do this– Your people and teams have been creating workflows for years

• Discovery takes a LOT longer– But is orders of magnitude more accurate– Makes bottlenecks more obvious– May result in the recognition of systems that nobody thought

existed



• Process lends itself granular optimization of numerous discrete tacit interaction points along the way, lifting the performance of the entire process in ways that macro


How

• Find and engage the entrepreneurs early– Understanding and Motivation = Success

• Limited implementation• Gain stakeholder buy-in (by any means necessary!)• Say good bye to email, sticky notes, and Outlook tasks

– If it isn’t in JobTraQ, it isn’t!

• Monitor and measure• Identify the low hanging fruit• Optimize

Rinse and Repeat!


Results!


Conclusions


Conclusions

Emergent Process Improvement should facilitate…

• as-you-go process discovery, • sustainable long term productivity gains over time, • greater team buy-in, • and reduced friction cycles,


Conclusions

Emergent Process Improvement should facilitate…

• as-you-go process discovery, • sustainable long term productivity gains time, • greater team buy-in, • and reduced friction cycles,

The trade off is time


Summary• Traditional process (big bang) improvement requires:

– Solid executive sponsorship– Clear understanding of the problem– Engaged early adopters– Commitment to and understanding of the change process

• And produces:– Rapid leaps forward in understanding– Rapid performance gains– Short term increases of disruptive friction

– Executive commitment to change is the oil of this machine


Summary

• Emergent process improvement requires:– People– Patience– Analysis– Commitment across time

• And produces:– More empirical evidence– Incremental performance gains– Reduced Friction

– Patience is the oil of this machine– Trust is the fuel– Tinkering required


Summary

• Emergent process improvement requires:– People– Patience– Analysis– Commitment across time

• And produces:– More empirical evidence– Incremental performance gains– Reduced Friction

– Patience is the oil of this machine– Trust is the fuel– Tinkering required

• Not for everybody• Business or organization must have

matured to the point where qualified human resources have time to tinker

• Requires a full team commitment • You cannot improve what you cannot

measure

emergent process design

Business

swift software

productive change

automation time productivity

obvious productivity

new system

great old system

fragmented process

water cooler chat level