Ted on Tech: The process of process improvement

There's been a lot written lately about process improvement. I'll be upfront. I'm far from an expert on the subject, but do find it interesting and think that you might as well. 

Some people mistake process improvement for workflow management. It's really not. Workflow is actually the string that ties processes together, either linearly, horizontally or in parallel. The tasks themselves are the processes. And while much of the focus has and is on the workflows, looking into the processes and tasks that make up the workflows is a step closer to improving the overall effectiveness and efficiency of your and your clients' businesses. 

There are various approaches to process improvement, but many of them start with identifying the key actions and data of an individual process. One popular method is using swim-lane diagrams, also known as Rummler-Brache diagrams after the two people, Geary Rummler and Alan Brache, who named the method in their book Improving Performance in 1990. But their origin goes back even further, to the 1940s as a type of flow process chart.

The Rummler-Brache Group (www.rummlerbrache.com) is one of the well-known consulting and education companies in the process improvement space, though finding other sources of information isn't difficult. If you want to get a better idea of what's available, check out Coursera.com. These courses aren't quick and dirty, and most require a substantial investment in time, and often in money, but with an approach to something as business and practice critical, many practices will find it to be a worthwhile investment.

That doesn't mean you have to spend months and much money to get a decent idea of how this methodology works. The Rummler-Brache Group offers a course in process improvement (for a fee, of course), but they also have a number of interesting publications that just require you to sign up for them. And to sweeten the deal, they offer a large number of free paper-based tools to help you in mapping processes. These don't teach you the elements, but as you begin to understand the approach, you might find them useful in actually mapping out processes.

But while the Rummler-Brache Group has a methodology as well as software that dovetails with their approach, you don't need to buy the course or the software if you just want to start trying out the method. While Rummler-Brache diagrams are part of the company's approach, swim-lane diagrams are not patented and software with the capabilities of creating these diagrams is plentiful, and you probably already own at least one of them. 

One useful graphics tool that I've been using almost since its introduction in 1994 is SmartDraw (www.smartdraw.com). It's not particularly inexpensive, but I've used it in the past for flowcharts, Gannt charts, swim diagrams and other graphics projects. It's easy to use and has what seems like a million preformatted templates to get you started. Another graphics program that I use frequently these days is LucidChart (www.lucidchart.com). The company would rather you use their software for this purpose (and I've been using it in addition to SmartDraw on various projects), but they also have a short tutorial on how to make a swim lane diagram in PowerPoint.

But you can also create swim diagrams in Excel. Though it's not quite as easy as using one of the programs above. Microsoft has a short how-to at this link.  

Whichever way you go, if you get the chance and have a bit of free time, go try making a swim lane diagram on a process that you already know. I think that you'll find it a useful part of your analysis toolkit.