Sweat the small stuff

You've probably been told not to sweat the small stuff, concentrate on what really matters.  And while this is great advice generally, it's not always the case.  Remember the last time you went to the toilet only to find all the toilet paper gone?  Or you went to your favorite section of the newspaper, only to find that someone had cut out the coupon to win a car on the page before, leaving you with only a quarter of the crossword.  Oh, I bet these had you sweating (or swearing).

This may not seem like the typical domain of process professionals.  Remember that it's generally the small stuff that unnerves you.  Let's do an experiment.  The next time you "snap" (however mild your version of "snapping" might be), think through the last thing that happened prior.  I bet it was something you could quite easily classify as small.  Try it for yourself, yes you mild mannered, patient people might have to wait awhile to try this out but it will open your eyes to why small things matter.

Small things matter in process mapping.  You'll only find out the small stuff over time as we are wired to remember what our brain considered important when it took on the information.  This generally means "big things" are what we list out when brainstorming process improvement.  So time is the most useful tool in your tool box.  I've found two great ways to use time as a friend:

1. Take the time to speak to a range of people who are directly involved in this process.  This is your "Process Unit".  Speak to them one-on-one.  They are more likely to be open about intra-team issues which might be big to them but small to the team in general.

2. Treat processes as living, breathing organisms.  Let them grow through suggestions, replace what doesn't work, adopt the short-cuts people take, and have them out on display.  If you feel more comfortable, you could have them on trial for a few months whilst you work through the process several times over and let it evolve during that time.

It doesn't have to take forever but given time, you can delve into the nitty-gritty and get a great flow out of your process for yourself and the team.