Don't children ask the best questions...? AND Push you for a real answer!

In my last post I recalled a conversation with my wife about what I do for a living, and specifically what does all the jargon we use, actually mean.

Now it has come down to me being interrogated by my ever inquisitive children; "What do you actually do dad?"

This got me thinking about summing up what I do, comprehensively but succinctly, and I turned first to the summary I have on my LinkedIn page which of course will give my children the answer they seek...won't it?

"I work with organisations to help them define business requirements, simplify the complexities and deliver end-to-end process solutions with measurable business returns and critically build long-lasting relationships based upon tangible benefits derived by all parties in the relationship." 

...I guess not, after reading this I am not sure I understand what I actually do.

One of the distinct advantages of working for an Australian company is that my antependium colleagues often have a very useful knack of cutting through all the ‘BS’ and get to the point very quickly.

Upon speaking to my colleagues we came up with the following summary:

I [we] deliver innovation solutions to very painful [process] problems.

Is it that simple? I guess so…

I am off to re-write my LinkedIn page and update our website.

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."

Apparently these were the words written on a sign that had hung on Albert Einstein's office wall. Now I am no Albert Einstein and that is self evident from reading my blog posts, but it occurred to me that Albert was on to something.

 Put another way [and I do not know who said this];

 You cannot manage what you cannot Measure!

Five to ten years ago all one could hear and read about was Business Intelligence, Analytics etc. and for some reason that I have been unable to fathom, ‘it’ seemed to have fallen off most people’s radar.

A number of surveys over the last few months however have highlighted the fact that the single highest priority item for senior executives is ANALYTICS; in all its forms and in all areas of the ‘business’.

In an earlier post I made the case for BPM providing the critical link between an organisations goals and objectives [its reason for existing] with the daily activities the organisation undertakes to achieve their specific goals and objectives.

In addition many organisations invest significant effort in measuring the transactions flowing through those processes; spend on X, costs of Y, profit on Z etc. It amazes me however that so many organisations [the largest majority] continue to look in the wrong place for the answers about Analytics.

So where am I going with this? Excellent question!

In numerous conversations with executives and senior management it occurs to me that they significantly under-estimate the importance of process and the view seems to be, that Analytics and Process exist in totally separate worlds; whereas I would argue they are intimately connected.

How can one ever know if a process is working without smart metrics? Or put another way, how can one know if the mechanisms one has put in place to achieve the business goals and objectives are moving us in the right direction, as effectively and efficiently as possible?

I would also ask what the point of a metric is if it does not measure the performance of some aspect of a process, and provide me with intelligence about how to improve it?

I would strongly suggest that an organisation would be well advised to start with a view of the ‘end-to-end’ operational business process and then define the right metrics by asking the right questions. These ‘right’ questions I would suggest would include: 'How would we know if we were being successful? What would be the critical indicator that warns us if we are going off track?’

So simply put I strongly believe and hence advise clients to always connect Analytics to Business Processes; failure to do so I would suggest leaves organisations ‘blind’ when they go ‘off-track’.


AND REMEMBER: Always keep count and always make sure you count what is worth counting!