The Process Ninja

Outside-in Part 3 - The Method

So I've talked about what outside-in has achieved and about successful customer outcomes - by how do we practically implement outside-in?

Outside-in is fundamentally about aligning processes with successful customer outcomes. Through workshops with little more than than sticky-notes, brown paper and the front line staff in the room we can start to radically change our thinking of organisational processes.

When we look at the customer experience we are looking for three key items within the process:

Moments of Truth – any interaction with the customer – this could be a customer to person interaction, for example or a customer to system interaction. These moments represent an opportunity in time to delight the customer or to fail!

Break points – any hand-off in the process – these represent potential points where the process can break down.

Business Rules – any decision point in the process. These can add complexity, increase effort and be a potential failure point.

When we map out the process we start to identify where these three factors occur for each step in the process. We then use these to calculate the point of failure factor for our process. This point of failure factor gives us an idea of how optimised (or not optimised!) our processes are from a customer point of view. The point of failure factor has been proven to directly correlate to customer satisfaction – so a high level of potential failure will equal a propensity for customers to be dissatisfied (I wonder why?!)

Thinking about our process with all its moments of truth, break points and business rules for a moment it is easy to see how customer dissatisfaction can occur. You may think that having lots of moments of truth (i.e customer interaction) might be a good thing, but think of it this way: if you had to call up a company to get some information but each time you received the information it was inaccurate and had to call again, how long would it take to irk your dissatisfaction? And what if instead the company had not only given you the information, but had given you extra information that had helped you further?

So once the point of failure factor has been identified we seek to improve our processes. But how to we do this? We need to:

1. Eliminate
2. Improve

Each moment of truth, break point or business rule represents an opportunity, but the more of them we have the greater our chance of failure occurring. So to reduce our point of failure factor we seek to eliminate as many as we can. Obviously we can’t practically get rid of all of them, but we need to ensure that the ones that we leave in place are improved as much as possible and that they are aligned to successful customer outcomes.

This is a very high level overview of how outside-in works. If you’d like to find out more or to become trained in the technique I’d recommend you visit the following links:

BP Group - http://www.bpgroup.org/

BP Group on Linkedin - http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1062077&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr

Steve Tower's Blog (World Outside-in Guru) - http://successfuloutcomes.blogspot.com/

Remember, The Process Revolution Starts Here...

- TPN

Lean six sigma group on linkedin goes feral!

Apologies folks it's been a while and yes I am still working on the post for outside in part 3. In the meantime have a look at the lean six sigma group on linkedin. World process guru Steve Towers posted a link to my post on the death of lean six sigma on the discussions there (thanks Steve...I think!) and fireworks predictably ensued!!! Whether you are interested in Lean, Six sigma or Outside in the discussion is with having a look at - particularly if you want to see the process ninja bring verbally attacked and beaten up!

They can hurt me but they won't win!

- TPN

Outside-in Part 2: Successful Customer Outcomes

So we've talked about what Outside-in has done and is currently doing for some of the best organisations in the world. But how does it actually work?

Outside in, fundamentally, is about aligning the way business is done with successful customer outcomes. That may sound like a no-brainer but careful thought is required to specify what the real customer outcome is. Outside-in takes an approach that focusses on the customer experience. The part that most organisations get wrong is that their definition of the customer experience is blinkered - the way that they have run their business and approached what they think their customers want has become immobile and inflexible.

Take two contrasting examples. British Airways struggles ahead selling seats on planes. Their approach to making money is just that - bums on seats. They are stuck in the mentality that the process is simply from check-in to baggage collection. It's thinking from decades ago. They are going slowly bust because they are a dinosaur unable to be flexible enough to adapt, to learn and to align with what today's airline passengers actually want. They can cost cut 'till the cows come home - it won't save them.

Meanwhile Ryanair are steaming ahead. They've looked at the customer experience and removed the blinkers. They've used outside-in to think outside the box - to give customers what they want - to fulfill the successful customer outcomes. They don't see the process as simply check-in to baggage collection - they have seen the opportunities: e.g.  online gambling, e-cigarettes and their latest innovation - removing check-in desks altogether.

So whilst traditional companies try to solve their problems by looking at their internal processes and improving them (with the misguided aim of improving their service to the customer) outside-in starts with the customer experience and builds the internal business processes to support the customer alignment.

But how do we do this I hear you scream?

Stay tuned for Outside-in Part 3: Moments of Truth.

- TPN

Meet My Alter Ego - The Cafe Ninja

And in case you are interested, meet my alter ego The Cafe Ninja at www.thecafeninja.com !!! Watch out for my interview in the Entrepreneur section of The Australian newspaper on 25/9/09.

ARIS Express Released Today - Do We Care?

The full version of ARIS Express is released today. You can download it at: http://www.ariscommunity.com/aris-express

It's advertised as the "world's first BPM tool" - I'm sure it isn't but it's a catchy strapline right enough.

The question is - do we care? Who exactly are ARIS expecting to use this product? It's obviously designed to be a visio killer, but without swimlanes it's a toothless tiger. So Visio users won't switch to it, ARIS users won't use it as they already have the full blown version and it's arguably too complex for small business owners to get their head around.

I can somewhat understand the marketing strategy - get those using visio to switch to ARIS express as it saves them some money - they'll like the product and then eventually upgrade to big boy's ARIS...and pay lots of money...or will they?

Answers on a postcard, please.

- TPN

Outside-in Part 1 - The Process Revolution Starts Here

Six Sigma and Lean's bodies lie smouldering and decomposing in the ashes of the 20th century. A revolution is upon us. Some are wise enough to have seen it coming, some have only recently found it and the others, well, they'll soon adapt or die.

What I am talking about is an approach that is so radically different from the ways that we have traditionally approached process improvement that it forces you to totally alter your current mindset. It is an approach that is the secret weapon of some of the world's greatest companies such as Google, Apple and Virgin.

It's called Outside-in.

On paper outside-in sounds like a "no brainer" - it's about looking at process from the customer's experience. I'm sure you think you already do that, but if you aren't using outside-in already I can categorically tell you that you aren't. Outside-in uses a method to systematically look at the customer's experience from end to end, rather than looking at improving the customer's experience by altering internal processses - this is inside-out thinking. Whereas inside-out thinking puts a bandage on the effect, it doesn't eliminate the cause - the wound still bleeds.

As organisations we have become crippled by our internal processes. We've become so entwined in what we do day to day we've forgotten why we exist - to serve our customer - to give them what they need, to give them what they want and sometimes to give them what they don't know they need yet! The customer is our reason for being, without them we cease to exist, yet through our bureaucracy and our bulk we become a bloated beast of burden - unable to move rapidly to meet the needs of the lightning fast pace of life around us. In the end, we sink and die whilst the nimble climb higher and higher.

When we use Outside-in to optimise process we achieve three things simultaneously - We reduce costs, improve the customer experience and as a result improve revenue. This we call "the triple crown".

Sounds to good to be true? Well, it's not. And here's why:

• Whilst Marks and Spencer flounder in the UK, Zara are achieving world domination
• Whilst Delta and United airlines are dying in the states, Southwestern airlines is flourishing
• Whilst Best Buy expand, their major competitors have gone bust
• Whilst Nokia try to sell outdated phones Apple kill the market with the iPhone
• Tesco has surged to be the no1 supermarket in the UK, now bidding to buy the former no 1
• Ryanair become the most profitable airline in Europe whilst BA implode
• Whilst british banks go bust, bank Santander is posting huge profits

What do these victors have in common? They all use Outside-in to achieve the "triple crown".

So, do you think Lean and Six Sigma will help you to achieve all that? Thought not.

Welcome to the revolution.

- TPN

Obituary: Lean, Six Sigma

Today the BPM community was saddened to hear of the loss of it's two favourite sons, Lean & Six Sigma.

Lean, who's ailing father Toyota will no doubt be deeply distressed by the news must surely be shocked by his son's sudden decline after several healthy years at the helm. Six Sigma's father Motorola may have seen the end coming for some time after his son was seen to be unable to keep up with the demands of the modern business world.

Both will be remembered fondly by bankers and software providers, who enjoyed many years of revenue generation and endless training courses in partnership with these captains of industry. Others, however, described them as being monolothic dinosaurs lumbering out of the conveyor belt mentality of the industrial revolution.

Whatever your opinion they did their best and achieved some success in what they set out to do. For a while they were the kings of all they surveyed; but times change and in the lightning fast pace of today's world they simply couldn't keep up. Their time has been and gone.

The kings are dead, long live the king...

Who am I and why am I doing this?

It's been almost a year since I started this blog, so I thought now is a timely moment to talk about why I write this blog and who I actually am. The blogs subscription base has grown considerably over the last year and I expect it to grow considerably over the next year.

The world BPM community may be a relatively small place, but it has huge power to effect change on organisations - and one of my aims is to get in touch with as many of that community as I can. In the words of Seth Godin, I am reaching out to my tribe. Having this blog has given me the vehicle to meet a lot of process people - some I can help, some help me - but I always have a good time meeting them. Note: if you are ever in Sydney and you invite me for a coffee or a beer, I will ALWAYS accept (particularly if its beer).

So, I suppose I write this blog to achieve that, but also because I like to write, and it's easiest to write about something you know. It's also easier to write about something you enjoy. I do enjoy my occupation - I'm lucky in that respect (although I continually moved toward doing the things that I enjoy throughout my career). I started this blog because I felt I could bring something a bit different to the table - something practical that people could immediately relate to.

I also write this blog because (to be brutally honest) it's a good way for me to promote myself, my business (www.Ninjaconsulting.com.au) and to get a foot in the door. I always tell people that having a blog about what you do for a career is like having the opportunity to get an interview without having to go to the interview - it's a poster for your expertise and your passion. I am always looking to make connections and get consulting work, so if you need me, drop me a line.

So that's why I write, but who is The Process Ninja?

I'm a 35 year old guy - married with 3 kids under 3 (work that one out!) - I live in the fabulous city of Sydney, Australia. I was born in Knutsford, England but my parents are Scottish and I grew up in the town of Barrhead near Glasgow in Scotland. I did relatively well at school, went on to study Marketing at The University of Strathclyde in Glasgow before I studied a postgraduate diploma in Hospitality Management. I moved to Sydney in 1997 where I met my wife. We returned to the UK for a couple of years where I worked in IT before moving back to Sydney in 1999. I worked in BA and IT related roles until 2002 when I bought a cafe, almost killed myself running it (and turning it into a process centric business) before I plunged back into the corporate world in 2004. I have worked in Business Process Roles since then.

Whilst I work full-time in process I'm also the Marketing Director of my parents underfloor heating company in the UK. I'm also writing a book about buying a cafe as well as starting a hospitality consulting business (The Cafe Ninja). I'm also currently renovating an investment property. I like to keep multiple fingers in multiple pies! Adding all that to three young kids you can see why I don't get much free time...

But when I do there are a few things I love doing: watching my beloved Glasgow Rangers, drinking wine, eating good food, cooking (good food), listening to good British rock music. I'm also totally obsessed with researching my family tree.

So that's a summary of my aims for the blog and who I am. I'd love to find out more about you all and (where possible) to meet you. So why not drop me a line or give me a call to say hello - it will be most welcome.

- TPN

The Church of BPM

I see a lot of "Process Evangelists" out there in linkedinland. Some of these guys seem to have almost cult-like following. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that's a bad thing at all - in fact it gave me an idea.

A few weeks ago I had a coffee with a fellow BPM enthusiast - a recent convert to the process way of thinking. After he was finished with his enthusiastic speech I said to him "Finding Process must be a bit like finding God..." - he agreed. We'd both had that lightning bolt moment when suddenly the way that we saw business had changed forever - and it was a powerful moment.

So maybe what we need to do is not to educate the world in BPM, not to send out white papers, not to hold conferences - maybe what we need is to be fundamentalists, preachers and pilgrims. Maybe we need to start shouting, singing and clapping our hands and saying "praise be" to the church of BPM. So what I say to all of you out there that feel the need to spread the word - let's stop being timid and let's start making some noise.

If the brothers out there aren't a listenin' yet, then they'll be a hearin' the callin' a real soon...

Process for Small Business - The Undiscovered Country?

One of the biggest issues I have with BPM is it's focus on big business. We all sit in our shiney office blocks buying our big, expensive BPM tools and talking about governance, etc, etc. But outside our freshly cleaned windows is a little world filled with shop and cafes, butchers and bakers - small businesses "the lifeblood of the economy".

What use is ARIS or BPMN to them? How can they implement SOA? They can't - it's totally unfeasable - but does that mean that we should designate small businesses as process free zones? Of course not! There are still practical process solutions to help small businesses.

I onced owned a cafe - when I bought it all the knowledge was in the previous owner's head - I sucked all this information out and documented the entire business - I made the knowledge transferrable. I turned the little cafe into a totally process centric business (and it worked!) Let's not forget how McDonalds started - once it was just one restaurant until they developed it into a process centric business (a franchise!)

But this isn't to say that every small business should aim to be a global giant - process can help small business owners to build better businesses. It can help them become more efficient, save money, improve customer service, improve standards - all the things we want for big business.

So the next time you think about BPM, spare a thought for the little guys - they need our help too.