A client of mine was failing to map out their processes fully and go through the 'concern-cause-countermeasure' sequence. We were running out of time and so I decided that we should cut to the chase. There were clearly issues that needed to be addressed, but so far no progress made to correct the situation.
Jumping past the mapping stage we went straight to 'concern'. All of the issues and concerns that this person had with a process was captured.
After this was done we undertook some digging. It wasn't true root cause analysis, but the rule in place was that my client couldn't accept the first answer as the final answer. After some probing of the issues some simple and straightforward improvements were identified.
The ideas were put into an improvement log, to manage their implementation, and we reviewed what we had done together. Through bypassing the formality of the business improvement method my client gained confidence. They are now ready to go through the full process to get the full benefit of re-engineering their processes.
If you are getting tied up in knots with your business improvement activities then why not try the 'quick and dirty' method (as my client named it)?
Giles Johnston
Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer