Chapter 1.2: Process Defined

Before we can talk much more about process, it is necessary to establish a common definition of what the word process means.  Here Process is a flow of activities that when executed consume resources for the purpose of creating value.  The activities of a process may be executed by people or by tools based on defined procedures.  It is common to refer to people, process, tools as if they were all three legs of the same stool.  Figure 1.3 shows process as the stool and people, procedures, and tools as the legs.

Figure 1.3:  The three resources controlled by process

That many consider process and procedures to be the same belies the conviction that process equates to bureaucracy.  Process is actions not words.

Procedures specify how the people and/or tools are to execute the activities of a process.  Procedures may be documented or undocumented.  An undocumented procedure may only exist in the mind of an employee, but it is just as real as a documented procedure.

That the word process often equated with the word procedure is a symptom of why so many people equate process with bureaucracy.  An organization cannot exist without process.  Any process can be bureaucratic; or it can be efficient and effective.  That choice is left up to the process owner.  There is nothing that inherent about process that stops it from being at one or the other.

Figure 1.4 is a graphical representation of a process with two activities.  In the first activity a person receives a phone call from a customer requesting a service and enters the information obtained during the call into a form on a laptop computer.  When the form is complete a server emails the information contained on the form. 

Figure 1.4:  Process Defined

Process is a flow of activities that when executed consume resources for the purpose of creating value.  Process flow defines priority and schedule; process execution defines work.

In activity #2 a person receives the emailed form from activity #1 and enters their decision into a form on a laptop computer. When the form is complete a server stores an electronic copy and prints a paper contract documenting the decision.

This simple process in Figure 1.4 depicts the flow and execution of process activities as they consume resources and create value. There are two components of every process: process flow and process execution. Process flow defines both the order the activities are executed and the transfer of resources to and from each of the activities. Process flow includes the scheduling of activities and the prioritization of available resources to execute those activities. 

 In Figure 1.4, the value created by activity #1 is an email about the customer request. Activity #2 follows activity #1 in the process flow and consumes that email in addition to other resources to create its value. This process represents a serial flow with activity #1 followed by activity #2.

Process execution defines the work of a process.  Process execution sets how resources are consumed and value created by each activity.  In Figure 1.4 people’s time and the use of the phone and laptop are all consumed by activity #1.  An electronic file and a paper document are the value created as a result of executing activity #2.

An activity that consumes resources but creates nothing is a black hole.  An activity where the created value is identical to the resources consumed is a ghost.  Any process activity must consume resources and create value to justify its existence.