![\"\"](\"https:\/\/leverage.mobi\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Swimlane-1024x226.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAnd somebody will pull out a hard-to-read diagram – with lots of arrows pointing to small blocks, a bunch of triangles with abstract decision points, and shout triumphantly “here it is”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If this is you… I recommend a rusty razor blade and starting to write a note to your loved ones, asking to remembered fondly…<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Here is why I suggest the above path of action:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- 30 seconds after go-live, no user will ever read the process above. Business processes aren’t worth the paper they aren’t printed on.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- A business process is useful, but only if all the actors have bought into the process and the role they need to fulfill.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Complex business processes ignore the fact that people tend to become self-sufficient and self-organising and will work out the process. But people are bad at becoming self-sufficient in a poorly organised business model.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- In fact, the business process should be embedded into any decent software… but that’s a topic for another day. There really shouldn’t be a need for a user to ever read a swimlane…<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
So… what should we focus on?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I’ve called it a business model – and it’s not in a true sense… But what should be focused on in any business – much more than the process – is the actors in the business – what they do and what value they add.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Huh? I’m not following…”<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
At a recent client, there were a number of different parties \/ groups of people. Let’s keep this high level to protect the innocent, but we’ll list a few of them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Employees<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Line Managers<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- HR Business Partners<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Payroll<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Master Data<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
These were known \/ existing groups of people. So with this in mind, the process engineers built some very cool swimlanes, which nobody read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And… when we went live, because nobody had read \/ understood the business processes, there was CHAOS…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A New Approach.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Forget complex swimlanes. Start the project with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- An understanding of your current capabilities \/ groups (“we have an HR function; and a Payroll Function”)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Understand their incentives. What drives their behavior? (Sample: “Our Payroll Team are responsible for the correct payment of people – but rely on HR to type in everything except for monetary amounts…”<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Then… with this in mind… investigate the software capabilities and focus on what skills are needed; what governance is required; what segregation of duties is mandatory – and build a simple capability-based business model.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Worked Example:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Let’s use the Recruitment process here. We’ll go simple, because you’re already doing well to still be reading (thanks, by the way!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Recruitment value chain, your company has:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Recruiters<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- HR people<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Applicants. That’s it… simple business model.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
In the software, based on standard capabilities, we see some new roles that could be in play:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Line Managers – who can create a requisition themselves – with approval<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- OD people, who need to create jobs \/ positions at some points<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Recruiters<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Compensation experts – responsible for offers<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Support experts – for when things go wrong \/ we want new features.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Which begs the most important questions:<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Do the new groups above have the skills to deliver what they need to?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Do they understand where they fit into the process? What is their role; what is the time urgency; who do they take instruction from; how do they communicate when done etc.?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- What are the Critical Success Factors in their role?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Can they describe the high-level process in it’s entirety? <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
Right now, you’re thinking “that’s a swimlane!”<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
And you’d be correct. But by taking a step back – getting agreement on the roles \/ CSF’s; ensuring you have the right people with the right skills – suddenly a complex swimlane isn’t important any more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
It’s a mistake to dive into detail with a business process. People get lost in detail, and the swimlane is an abstract concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Make it real. Talk about people’s roles; educate them on the process in general; give them the tools to self-organise… and the swimlane will sort itself out…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If your users can’t see the wood for the trees, it’s likely that they don’t understand their role in the value chain. This article is about taking a step back and understanding a business model within your business, to support your business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24,4,25],"tags":[27,28,29,26],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leverage.mobi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leverage.mobi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leverage.mobi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leverage.mobi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leverage.mobi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/leverage.mobi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52,"href":"https:\/\/leverage.mobi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions\/52"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leverage.mobi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leverage.mobi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leverage.mobi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leverage.mobi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}