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Last time I gave some of my thoughts after re-reading "Process Optimization That Measures Up" from Optimize Magazine. Even though this article is written for Information Technology managers, I think that there is some application to productivity in all areas. Bruce Rogow, the writer, suggests 6 areas that can provide a vision for improving the efficiency of an entire enterprise.

  1. Take a "business-model" vs. "process" perspective - I wrote mostly about this concept last time, but to quickly summarize, there needs to be a vision based on an overall perspective. Improving the efficiency of each small piece of an organization does not improve its value to the customer.
  2. Take project responsibility - There must be a leader who is accountable for overall business success or failure even though others are completely responsible for key pieces. Decisions and control of processes must be held as low in the hierarchy as possible. This ensures usefulness.
  3. Assess and prepare - Every aspect of a proposed project should be scrutinized by the best people you have from multiple disciplines.
  4. Effective "soft processes" determine adoption - Elaborate systems or procedures will fail because employees will choose not to use them. This is a side effect of not putting project ownership at the right level (see #2).
  5. View it as a multiyear experience, not a project - Only short term projects really succeed. If you want to succeed at making lasting changes, you need to go about making incremental improvements continually.
  6. Balance the portfolio over time - Balance should be achieved between: hard vs. soft processes, company vs. industry benchmarks, and near-term vs. long-term results.

If this sounds like a lean or Six Sigma approach I agree. There are many tools that are available for manufacturing that can assist in achieving this type of an optimization.

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