I want to share one quick quotation that has some massive implications on designing business process or business systems.
The following quotation is from the December 13 issue of Automotive News (subscription required) and comes from an interview with the Senior Design Executive of Korean automotive manufacturer Hyundai Motor, and hidden in the main body of an answer to a question, this caught my eye;
…systems sometimes deny the designers opinion… but designers need to have their own identity and personality. Our system system at the moment has that kind of understanding…
Systems sometimes deny the designers opinion….
In other words, the system can be created in such a way that it implies that one group, or individual has no choice but to fail.
Before going further, let me back up and define Business System: Methodical procedure or process, used as a delivery mechanism for providing specific goods or services to customers
And yes, I write fairly often about business processes and systems here.
But that phrase is something we have to think carefully about. To be blunt, it surprised the hell out of me.
Are our systems or processes being designed where a single (possibly vested) interest has the ultimate Nay vote? Are we making errors in presumptions or assumptions? Is the decision making authority or structure in the wrong place for this particular system or process?
To me creating business systems that predispose one part of the organization to fail would be the most demoralizing and mind numbing event if you are stuck in that department or unit of the business, and think of what the larger organization loses.
The SMB Takeaway
Creating business processes and systems should be win-win scenarios. Defining a system that makes it almost a win-lose is not going to have the effect you are looking for. The idea of setting up default failure frightens me, how about you? Have you seen processes or systems that have a built in design to fail? If so let me know in the comments!
Photo Credit Peter Lindberg via flickr