The Process Ninja

Business Process Improvement - The CIO's Secret Weapon?

I found this great little article today. I was actually quite surprised by it. I never realised that BPI was taken so seriously by CIO's.

A few key (paraphrased) points from the article:

• The bigger the company, the more interest in BPI

• As times get tough CIO's get more interested in BPI

• In a downturn the BPI focus is on Improving productivity & Reducing Costs (no brainer really)

• Collaboration tools & Web services are the top technologies used

• IT is the biggest adopter of BPI

• Finance is the least successful at meeting BPI goals

and last but certainly not least...

• The Key to BPI success is to involve affected employees in the process

Next time your CIO talks about cost cutting and how they can't afford process improvement, shove this article under their nose.

Some interesting process websites to check out...

Sorry for the lack of video posts - here is an update on what is coming next and some links to interesting blogs / websites.

Oh and it's www.mavim.com not Mavin.

The Gary Vaynerchuk iPhone Application

Check it out: http://www.apple.com/webapps/entertainment/icelebgaryvaynerchuk.html

The world's best Business Blogs?

What are your favorites? Apart from this one, of course.

I already subscribe to a few (you can find these in the navigation bar on the right hand side) but I am always interested in finding more "quality" business blogs that I can get involved with. What I mean by quality is a personal thing I suppose. I hate dull "Financial Times" style business blogs written in an inaccessible "better than thou" corporate bullshit biz-speak, but then you probably figured that out already.Clever Boy. Or Girl.

So tell me your favourite business related blogs, (and no I don't mind if it's yours).

Will an iPhone improve my life?

I've been thinking about buying an iPhone as my Mobile has broken. It's actually been a great experience not having to A. carry a phone around all the time and B. Feel I have to be a slave to it. At the moment I am just using it as an answering machine and it is surprisingly liberating.

But as for the iPhone I am struggling to understand how it can make my life better other than fill it with more fluff I don't need. So far here are my thoughts:

1. It's a phone! Woo hoo. I can get one for free on a plan rather than paying an extra $40 a month.
2. It's an MP3 Player. I already have one - next! 
3. It's a camera. See point 2. 
4. It's a web browser. I spend 8 hours a day at work and I have a Mac at home. Do I really need to spend my few sacred hours away from a computer looking at more web pages? 
5. It receives e-mail. See point 3.
6. I can download cool apps. OK, some of these are useful but most of the ones I've seen so far turn your iPhone into a Pint of lager or a lightsaber. Funny for all of 30 seconds. 
7. It synchronises with my Mac. OK - a benefit, but I can already access everyone's contact details via the web anyway. 
8. It will make me look cool. Well, it will for all of 3 minutes until everyone has got one. 

So that's all pretty clear cut then. The only decision I need to make is whether to buy one tomorrow or the next day!!! 

Coming Soon - The "How to be a Process Ninja" eBook

Yes, it's coming soon (or soon in my world which may mean a few weeks, months...) so I will be sharing all my top tips! Woooooooooooo!

Free eBook by Seth Godin - Tribes

Seth Godin's Blog today gives you the opportunity to download a free eBook. Before you go "fantastic, a free ebook by Seth Godin!!!" just be aware that he didn't write it, he merely inspired the idea behind it and, of course, it is a great plug for his new book Tribes. From what I can see in the few nanoseconds that I actually looked at it, it's a book by lots of people talking about "their" tribes. Some of it is interesting, some of it looks downright dull, but what they heck, it's free! It's 240 pages long so it will keep you busy. Not sure why we all get excited about free eBooks these days considering we have an entire (free) internet to read...

Processes are only as good as the way they are communicated

I was sent this lovely promotional e-mail today. I am sure a lot of time and money went into this promotion, but it has been mangled beyond belief by the ineptitude of the writer.

This communication is so back to front it sounds like it was written by Yoda. It's a classic example of a process being destroyed by poor communication. The lesson is, creating a good process is half the battle - but unless you communicate the process effectively you may as well not bother.

Can processes cure Business Insomnia?

I recently read (yet another) interesting article by Valerie Khoo entitled "Business Insomnia". It's about how stress running your small business can take over your life to the point that you can't sleep (or are waking up in the middle of the night).

When I was first running my cafe I certainly was a victim of business insomnia because the business was totally dependant upon me. But slowly and surely over time I built my business processes, trained my staff and freed myself from "being the business". It's important to make the distinction - you run the business, but you are not the business. If you are to build your business rather than be consumed by it, you have to step back from it - and the way to do that is to build a process driven business.

Bad Habits are simply bad processes

I was walking to the train today (or as I call it "The Scumbag Express") and saw a chappy lingering on the last draws of his cigarette before he entered the train station. He took a deep draw, threw the cigarette to the ground, stamped it out and walked off. This made me think. If I drank my morning coffee and threw it away like that - would I get away with it? Probably not...

Why did he think it was OK to do this? Well, it's not OK, but to him it's normal, it's a habit that has become accepted by society (although not for long!). When you think about it, a habit is just a process that has become part of a person's ingrained behaviour. Often these habits are bad ones, just like our cancer sucking friend.

The same is true for organisations. Often bad habits come from bad processes that have developed over time and have become "the way things are done". Habits are notoriously hard to break, but the best way to stop them is to prevent them from happening in the first place, which is why it is important to continually improve and examine processes, rather than to spend time and money later trying to kick a habit. Also, the longer a bad habit continues in an organisation the more it is accepted as the norm (just like society tolerating the smoking man's littering). Everything can be changed for the better but the longer you leave a bad habit the more difficult it becomes.

Do you have a process habit that needs fixed? Share it with me here and I'll try to help!