Processes are methods that standardize procedures. This allows us to create identical results again and again. Successfully implemented processes reduce error and increase revenues. The importance of good processes are seen in the following examples:
- Your doctor diagnoses disease on the basis of clusters of abnormalities; events at variance with normal good health. Treatment aims to bring the body in line with what is normal for the patient based on race, gender and age. The practice is possible only if we see all bodies as inherently similar and the variance between us as minimal.
- Customer service reps pinpoint problems by following scripts that guide customers back to a common starting point, then walks them through to preferred solutions.
- Everything from cars to teddy bears are machine made to reduce variance within their class so that performance is predictable.
- Marketing professionals target people based on a relatively small handful of shared characteristics that indicate shared preferences and susceptibilities.
Conformity, not variation, is the goal of factory thinking. While a superficial skin of individuality is tolerated, they are like nicks in bumpers. Underneath, the structure upholds the pattern, built on a sturdy unwavering foundation.
Consistency allows us to develop laws of behaviour that apply in all related situations, allowing us to develop processes for guiding and manipulating events, improving predictability, reducing error and lowering costs. We are so used to this approach that if error and costs don’t fall after the processes are in place, we assume that the processes are flawed.
The factory premise holds that there is nothing new or unique under the sun for everything is kin to something we already know. Each website parallels every other. The steps required to build a website or design a spoon are knowable and practicable. The perfect excellent employee is the one who follows the steps perfectly.
So why does every project run into its own unique problems?
Creative activity recognizes that every project is unique, crafted to meet the unique personality and goals of its future owner. The variations have ramifications that flutter through the process standing many of the rules on end.
Design is a slow process where each project has its own trajectory. This makes some people uncomfortable. They would rather use a template even if that mean constraining their content to the mold. They would rather follow fashion than set an independent mark. They want a company that will stamp out a solid piece of work that will win them no awards but lose them no votes. Excellence in such a world is the ability to perform a set of repetitive tasks to perfection.