One of my potential
clients asked for a reference on how to do process mapping last week, so this
article offers a crash course on the subject. This will describe how AJC does Process
Mapping. Though the method is relatively
standard, everyone will have different flavors or techniques. Also, it should be noted that either Process
or Value Stream Mapping can be done on something which already exists, usually
starting with the Current State, then moving to a Future State if one wishes to
improve or change things, or on something which does not yet exist and
therefore is being designed. In this
case, the only map is the Future State, but the execution steps for mapping are
the same.
First – is it a Process
Map or a Value Stream Map? The former
can be used for any process. The latter refers
to the specific activities required to provide a particular product or service into
the hands of the customer, which technically means it “goes all the way,” if
you will, to when the customer receives whatever it is they are buying. These tend to be higher level, as in the basic
example below:
Figure
1: found on http://www.scaledagileframework.com/value-streams/
In a Process Map,
however, the focus is on the specific flow of tasks and handoffs required to
move from a particular starting point or trigger, to a particular end
point. The first thing to consider are
what I call the “bookends” of the process.
As in, what is the start and what is the end of the process? For example, in providing a Request for
Quote, the start is the customer asking the company for a quote, and the end is
the company delivering the quote to the customer. Sounds pretty basic, yes? The real trick is in articulating the particulars.
How does the customer
request a quote? Email, phone, F2F,
letter, online request, (does this still happen) fax? Who at the company is the first one to
receive the request? Sales, Account
Managers, Engineering, Administration, Help Desk? What information is needed for a complete
request? Budget, quantity, timeline,
design details, user requirements, sketches, drawings, CAD files, technical
specifications, size, quality, dimensions, the list can go on and on, depending
on the product or service.
Let’s take a quick step back before moving forward. Process Maps are usually not created in a
bubble. Usually, and this tends to be
very illuminating, they are performed with a group of people – all the people
who do or will participate in the process in some way, including the suppliers of
inputs or customers* of outputs of the process, when possible.
*It may not be possible for the
customer to participate, so people who deal directly with the customers should
represent their needs.
Someone has to be
designated as the Facilitator, often an outsider like a Consultant, but always someone
who can remain objective about the process and will keep the group on
focus. It is a good idea to have a “Parking
Lot” listed somewhere, for ideas or actions that come up which are not directly
related to the process, and someone designated as “Scribe” (can be the
Facilitator) who will note these and distribute them appropriately after the
Mapping session. The Scribe will also
note any Waste, Ideas, Opportunities, or Enablers as they come up, for future
reference. Finally, materials – it is
helpful to use a big roll of butcher paper (which can be purchased on Amazon.com)
and multi-colored sticky notes for writing.
After the first step of
defining the bookends of the process, articulate “what comes next.” The Facilitator will help the group identify
the activity, who performs it, what information is needed to do it right the
first time, what the specific output of that activity is, where relevant
information is saved, and how it passes to the next step. If there is a decision to be made, that is
also described, and the resulting options are also mapped. It is very important to drill down on exactly
HOW the next group learns that they need to begin their work; a frequent
problem that I have seen is that there is no systematic way of informing a
downstream step that – guess what?! – it’s your turn! Whether a system is used (ERP, MRP, cloud-based
workflow or task management tool), or the handoff occurs via email, physical
flow, or F2F conversation – it is CRITICAL that everyone agrees on how information
or materials move from one step to the next.
As each activity is articulated, it is written on a sticky note and put
up on the butcher paper. You can
designate what you want the sticky note colors to mean (some have yellow for
activities, blue for decisions; others will color them by department). No lines are drawn until the very end, because
there is a pretty good chance things will move around before the session is
over.
Figure 2: Current State Process Map using different colors
representing different Departments - intentionally fuzzy
Now… here is the “Crash”
part of this course. For those of you
who have participated in a Process Mapping session before, you realize that detailing
out each activity is time consuming, sometimes confusing (“You do what? Why? I didn’t know that!”), and all together
pretty exhausting! Lots of groups will
do these as full-day events for a full week to go through Current State, Future
State, Enablers, and even get started on the execution – commonly called a “Kaizen
Event.” This is terrific, if you have
the ability to pull everyone off their day jobs for a week. However, most of AJC’s clients can’t afford
that kind of time away, and quite frankly, our prefrontal cortexes are pretty
zapped after 4-5 hours of straight mapping.
I typically hold one or two 4-6 hour sessions (including lunch break)
for the Current State, another one or two 4-6 hour sessions for the Future
State, and a final review session for all the Enablers and assignment of
actions. Clients often prefer to space
these sessions out over a few weeks, so they can still perform their duties in
the meantime.
Logistics for the sessions
are up to you, but at the end, you should have a Current State Process Map for
how things are done today – even if it is convoluted and complicated; a Future
State Process Map which has cleaned up the process to get rid of all waste,
confusion, misunderstanding, waiting, with improved flow, full utilization of
the bottlenecks, etc. (for a newly designed Process, this is all you will
have), and a list of “Enablers” which include all the things that need to
happen in order to realize the Future State.
Sometimes these require a lot of investment – like automatically
informing one group when a certain something has been done. If you don’t yet have an automated workflow,
this may be something for which a standardized work-around must be developed
(i.e. always email the next step when you’re done with XYZ). This should not be considered make-or-break, however,
as we all know that you can go back to the process and revise it again once
your company has outgrown the old method and/or has additional resources to
invest in system upgrades. The one piece
of advice, of course, is to document the process flow BEFORE you buy some
software that claims it will give you everything you need… make sure you know
exactly what it is you need first!
So, what are some other
things an objective Facilitator can do for you in Process Mapping besides facilitating
the sessions and ensuring all relevant details are discussed, documented, and
enablers/parking lot items written down and assigned? Well, hopefully the objective Facilitator
will also be your sanity check on why you do things a certain way, and help you
whittle out all the unnecessary waste in your process. If you’re serious about mapping, using a
strong Facilitator can be a very useful way to get everyone on the same page
and improve a process relatively quickly.
Questions to the
audience: Have you used Process Mapping as a tool? If so, for what? Did you have an outside Facilitator, or was
this role performed by someone in house?
How did it go, regardless? What
are the best things a Facilitator has done to help your group?