The missing link getty Do you know where clarity is and isn’t in your organization? After several decades of quality initiatives, lean manufacturing, lean thinking, six sigma—coupled with economic uncertainty, and competitive pressure—I guarantee that the greatest clarity in your organization can be found in your production processes. For manufacturers, your production processes are the processes that receive raw materials and parts, turn them into finished goods, and ship them out the door. For software developers, your production processes include collecting requirements, developing a design, coding, testing, and installing the software. For service organizations, your production processes are the processes essential for delivering your services. A bank takes in mortgage applications and transforms them into loans. A moving company packs, loads, transports, and delivers. A restaurant turns menu items into delicious meals. These are the processes that have been carefully mapped and streamlined. Any organization that has taken those various quality initiatives seriously now has well-defined, lean, repeatable, and efficient production processes. Employees involved in those processes know exactly what they are trying to accomplish, how, how well, and with whom, and they are given the necessary resources and opportunity to focus on the tasks at hand. Executives and […]
