Has the time come to fix your band-aid processes?

We have one of those hot water taps at work where you press the button and you get instant hot water.

Well this week it broke and after 3 days no-one seems to be able to fix it. In the meantime half of the floor have to trudge to the kitchen on the other side of the floor every time they want a cup of tea or lunch, etc.

I set about calculating the productivity cost of this and it goes like this:

50 Staff

3 visits to the kitchen per day on average

$50 per hour average staff cost

3 days of no tap.

15 seconds extra time (each way) or half a minute.

Total cost = $189 over 3 days.

Now this isn't a lot of money, but it shows how a simple break in normal process can add extra cost. Over time we often find breaks in process that are patched up. These "workarounds" or "band-aid" solutions often are simply adopted as long term solutions.

What if we never fixed the hot water tap? What would it cost per year? 

$15,750.

Now just think about all those band-aid solutions that your company might have put in place over the years that have remained - and think about the true cost to your organisation.

Is it time to peel back those temporary fixes and cure the processes for good?

Comments

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawl7vU6jQDitYKwtfZqUMrXsBz1ji3W-hQU]

Awesome post Ninja... it's scary when you think of it in those terms!! But very apt, and point well proven I say.

[Max J. Pucher]

This is the usual crap to sell BPM products. That is however not what a business needs. You do not need hot water for everything. Some days you need this and some days that.

BPM sees a NAIL in every problem because all it has is a HAMMER. BPM is the killer of corporate agility and quality customer service and its guarantor. Business users need to be able to service the customer in any way that comes to their mind and not in ONE WAY.

To prove differenty all you have to do is to provide an independent (not vendor sponsored) long-term study of what BPM does for a business. Well, there aren't any!

So stop making claims that are utterly ridiculous ...

[The Process Ninja]

Hi Max - in the context of my post I don't really know where you are coming from. No-one here is selling BPM products (although I see you are!) When I talk about process it can be as simple as having steps on paper. Process doesn't have to be expensive or involve an expensive system to work. Good process means giving customers flexibility and quality. Without process all we have is chaos.

Having run my own small business and turned it into a productive process focussed business I do not need any other proof that process works.

If I was a cynic I'd guess that you cut and paste the same comment into every process related blog you can find, right? - I'm sure it draws attention to your own blog!

And unfortunately, yes, you definitely need hot water for tea.

[SueRK]

Max – I have to think Process Ninja may be right in suspecting you are looking to draw attention – but guess you may not get the kind you were after!
I have never worked for a BPMS (note the ‘S’) vendor, but I AM a major proponent of business process management and have seen first -hand the kind of benefits you claim don’t exist – agility, service, compliance, efficiency....and (yes, really) user empowerment to use initiative and innovation in servicing customers. Not sure what you’ve been looking at that proscribes ONE WAY, but it sure ain’t the BPM I know.
Curious as to the lack of alternative proffered. I get that you don’t like (understand?) BPM, but what’s your solution?