Last week I mentioned that I would write a couple of posts this week about software implementation from the view of the business. Today I just want to say a few words about what I have called 'Business Thinking'. Not trying to be a wiseguy here. Of course people in business think all the time and most of them think very well. They understand their business in both strategic terms and functional areas, very well. You won't stay in business long without this kind of deep understanding. However, from a process point of view, it is often hard to stay on top of how the work gets done. Frankly, the staff often controls the 'how' because their greatest need is to get the work done and make it home in time to have a life, as well. A noble requirement and one that I share. Management takes the process side for granted, too. Management understands who is responsible and, especially, who is responsible for who is responsible, but again they lose sight of 'how' things happen because their focus is on outcomes, not process. Net Income depends on delivering products and services at a fairly stable cost. They study Net Income in a thousand ways. But how the organization does what it does is never 'studied'. How do I know that management does not understand the process? Because I have consulted at over 100 large companies over the years and during the process discussions at every single one of them management and I learned together how staff accomplishes the work. Sometimes it was embarrassing how little management understood about the process of filling orders, receiving payment, paying bills, etc.. So what is business thinking? Simply the understanding of how works gets done. Not the understanding of how work is supposed to get done. The textbooks from your famous MBA can tell you those secrets. Business thinking is the understanding of how work actually gets done and why. Why does your staff bend the various processes like order to cash in this way and that to deliver the company's value? What it tells you is the reality of delivering your products and services in the real economy. Most company executives, and sometimes even the line managers, stand on one side of the chasm where the business looks straightforward and concise. The staff stands on the other side of the chasm where a thousand disconnected decisions over time have left the organization with untold complexity. To compensate for the complexity the staff comes up with a thousand undocumented workarounds. These end up being the company's business processes. Management has no idea. Before the implementation begins I would suggest that the executives and the business managers of the company reintroduce themselves to the day to day processes in the functional areas. After all, it is the decisions of this group which have led to the complexity that will kill the new system, sure. Take some time away from the grander strategic goals of the organization and find out how many different ways the company has of paying an invoice. Are they all really necessary? If you cut out 20% of the unnecessary complexity of the business you can save 50% of the implementation time. Your company will also be much improved for the renewed focus on simplicity. Tomorrow we cover System Thinking. | 
