Process Improvements: Learn from the Repeats and the Gaps

Many of us find ourselves doing something that doesn't make sense, just because that's the way it's been done. Either it's the way you were taught to do it--either at home or on the job--or it's the way you taught others to do, but for whatever reason, it's no longer working.

What's the quickest way to fix this? Study these two areas for ideas on how to improve this process:

1. Where do you find yourself repeating either your steps or other's steps? Redundancy is a dreaded word in more than one way and is also just a waste of time. If you're repeating your own steps, take the time to sit down and figure out how you can avoid this. If you're repeating someone else's steps or they're repeating yours, sit down with them. (If you're doing this because you're a micro-manager, read my next post.)
2. Where are steps being skipped and/or communication seems to go awry? Again, sit down with all those involved and figure out who is responsible for doing what and until what, or communicating what and to whom, so that these gaps do not continue.

Process need not be difficult and the simpler and more straightforward you keep it, the better. Read Faster Cheaper Better: The 9 Levers for Transforming How Work Gets Done by Michael Hammer and Lisa Hershman for more ideas.

Have you had to improve a process? How did you go about  it?