Process and Optimization — Sides of The Same Coin

Having a “process” means having a defined way of processing a set of inputs. The inputs meet some acceptance criteria for the process. When you implement a process, you make the decision that your process will be applicable over a range of input values — that you will give the exact same treatment (the process) to all values in the universe of acceptable input values.

Think about this — your shinny new process is a billboard that screams “I will be (almost) always sub-optimal in the way that I process these inputs!” Yep, that’s right — you just decided to suck (at handling these inputs). Assuming reasonable variance in the inputs, process is the opposite of optimization.

The two most common failings I see around the application of process in business are:

1. Failing to understand that process and optimization are two sides of the same coin, and that both have value when applied appropriately. Both are tools.
2. Seeing process as a single knob for the entire organizational context, rather than seeing it as a tool (like a hammer).

Let’s deal with the first failing. As explained above, the act of relegating something to process means that you’ll accept consistently sub-optimal outcomes for that something. The upside of doing this is that you will no longer have to spend mental energy/focus on that something — the process will ensure that an acceptable outcome occurs. This is a huge win! If many problems are flying at you, process allows you to drastically reduce the number of problems to which you must apply focus.

Optimization, is the opposite. Focus is required, and you can’t focus on everything. So the key is to decide where the value is — do a priority sort. Relegate everything that isn’t high priority to process. This gives you the quantum of focus that you need in order to optimize for the problems that are of highest priority.

Now for the second failing. When you hear someone say “we’re a big company, we need more process here”, or “we’re a small company — we can’t afford too much process here” — ignore it. In any organization, there is much in flight at any given point of time. Understanding what merits optimization and what doesn’t is key to running a tight ship. This stays true as the organization scales, although the criteria for deserving focus changes.

Knowing that these two tools are available and that they can be applied by design is powerful. Design you system using both process and optimization, understanding the relationship between them.