Tag: planning

  • How do you currently solve your business problem?

    How do you currently solve your business problem?

    We must start with our current approach as we continue to delve into a process to solve our business problems better. Thus, we must ask our next question: How do you currently solve your business problem? We started with a definition, but now we assume that there is some current solution. For example, we want fast fulfillment of our products. We are currently fulfilling orders, even if not in the best way, and that is our starting point.

    The Goal of Answering: How do you currently solve your business problem?

    It is not uncommon for us to look at a question like this and think it is either redundant or unnecessary. We know the current approach is not what we want, so why should we spend time on it? The answer is that we often find missing details for our problem definition. You have experienced it if you have tried describing a process to someone and had an “oh yes, I forgot about that detail” moment. We can gloss over important details when we describe a process. That is where a good interviewer will help you nail down specific requirements. They can help break down assumptions and find constraints that have been forgotten or hidden.

    Addressing “We Always Did It That Way”

    There is a story about a congregation that always stood up and faced a blank wall when they said the opening prayer. This was a scene that appeared to have some ritual meaning. Eventually, the new pastor asked why they did so. He felt it was something he was missing that would help him better understand his congregation. It took a while to track down the deeper meaning behind this “ritual.” It turns out they used to have the words of the prayer on the wall. When they got to that part of the service, everyone would read from it. However, the words faded over the years, yet the habit was so strong that it stuck with the congregation. New members just joined the crowd when they stood and turned.

    There are business practices like this. Sometimes they have critical requirements as part of them, and sometimes the original requirements faded long ago. A typical business example is a need to generate a report that no one uses anymore. Another example is a process step required for a no longer-used vendor. These can lead to firm requirements until we dig into the “why.” Then, that digging can show us it is not a requirement.

    Documenting The Process

    The ultimate goal of answering “How do you currently solve your business problem?” is to ensure we have all the steps required to solve the problem and understand each. In addition, we must have the process repeatable before we can automate and tune it. Thus, we need to know the inputs and outputs for each step along the way. That helps us ensure our proposed new solution can match the “correctness” of the current solution. However, we might also improve the quality of some steps by simplifying and reducing opportunities for errors.

    A typical example of this sort of improvement is a shipping/billing address. Many systems have a couple of places where an address is entered into the system, and each entry point is an opportunity for a mistake. There are legitimate reasons to enter the same information again, but those are also areas where systems are improving. Vendors that require a manual entry in a portal now may accept orders via email or other digital delivery mechanisms that your systems can utilize. That can speed up your process and reduce potential mistakes. However, it is not an option unless we know that the “entry via portal” step is not required and the digital option serves the same need.

    Signing Off On This Question

    You want to be sure you have an answer to this question before moving forward. Fortunately, the testing of whether you have one is straightforward. Once you think you have this answer, you will have a series of detailed steps that currently address the problem. Those are the current solution and can be verified by walking through each step with an example piece of data. The results should be exactly what you expect. For example, say that the problem is going from order to fulfillment, invoicing, and payment. Create a test order, walk through each step of your process, and ensure you can go through to the end without error. That may seem tedious or a waste of time. However, it will save a lot of potential issues down the road that will cost time and money that you can spend elsewhere.

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  • Contingency Planning And Disaster Recovery

    Contingency Planning And Disaster Recovery

    There is nothing like a crisis to help us focus on important things like planning. Topics like disaster recovery suddenly become much more interesting. The Coronavirus is all over the news, and this has caused a wide range of reactions. Some of these have included things like cancellations and workers staying home. Unfortunately, all of these can cause your business to be disrupted or even ground to a halt. Granted, this is not an earthquake, flood, or other events that bring down the infrastructure we rely on. However, it is an example of why we need to plan for business continuity and disasters.

    The first step in levels of preparedness is converting staff to remote work. This situation can crop up multiple times a year and without much warning. Some examples are heavy snow or similar weather, hurricanes/tornadoes, and even terror/crime events that cause a lockdown of a building or area.
     

    Common Concerns For Disaster Recovery

    There are many things we take for granted when considering a continuity plan. Thus, those functions are easy to overlook. Here are some typical business functions to consider to help you build out that list of concerns.

    • Communication – Phone and other forms like email. MS Teams or Slack may be the cure for a lot of this.
    • Non-digital communication – Printing and mail. This area can include essential things like invoices and payroll.
    • Customer interaction – Your customers may not be impacted and still need to contact you. Do you have alternate options for face-to-face communication?
    • Line of command – This concern is more about handling outages and errors. When people are not in an office, will you still be able to address and escalate issues adequately?
    • Meetings – We may enjoy skipping these. However, some meetings are critical and must be maintained even in bad times (maybe more so).
    • Online Access – Businesses are doing more to secure their environments. Do you have a plan that allows people to VPN into your network or access resources when not in the office?
    • Grapevine – Do you have a plan for pushing communication out to everyone? This can be internal and external communication. For example, letting staff know the office is closed or canceling public events.
    • Digital Access – Although similar to online access, do your employees have access to the proper version of the files they need? Do your processes include a bias towards saving daily work and placing it where it can be accessed anywhere?
    • Backups and DR – Does your plan include a way for employees to back up and store data when not in the office? Your disaster recovery processes may be oriented towards office staff and network staff.


    Getting Started

    When you look at the above list, there might be some items that cause you discomfort. Your reaction may be to address that right away. The thing about DR and continuity planning is that we do have non-essential items in our daily business. One can ignore these items for planning purposes.

    A good example is payroll processing. When you use an outside vendor, this probably becomes something you push on that vendor. Make sure they have a good plan and that will cover you.

    The Cloud has helped with many of these areas. These challenges disappear as organizations move to MS Azure or Amazon AWS and use more SAAS (software as a service) options. Ok, not completely away. However, you will have a vendor that will provide you with most of what you need for your continuity or DR needs. That is just another value outsourcing can bring.


    Learning More

    There is a wealth of DR information on the web. You can start with a search for “disaster recovery planning” to see a long list of vendors and guides on this subject. I recommend starting with an overview such as this one. You can find examples with excellent backgrounds at places like the Gartner Group, Harvard Business Review, and Forrester. While you can hire consultants to help with your specific plans, I find it much better to go into this process with your eyes open. Of course, you can always send an email to rob@54.197.223.3 if you have questions.

  • The Mid-Year Review

    The Mid-Year Review

    A New Year always includes a flood of articles on planning and assessing for the year gone by and the one ahead. However, annual planning is not enough. That is why a mid-year review and adjustments are valuable. In particular, we need to adjust during the journey rather than wait until the end. They should also be much less investment than year-end as your course is set. It just might need some modification.

    Where Are We

    The middle of the year is a good point to see how you are doing. You should be about halfway through your goals or progress set in January. If you are ahead of schedule, then keep forging on. When you are off-track, then review options for getting back on track or even adjusting goals. Six months is a lot of time for a correction to “bake in” and turn a loss into a win. The modern business world moves fast. Your mid-year review may point to goals that need to change. A new product idea may appear to be a better direction to take, or the window of opportunity may have passed for a flagship goal of the year. Do not throw good resources after bad. If it is time to call it quits, then do so and move on.

    What Works, What Needs Change

    Another benefit of assessing progress at this point is that you should have a solid track record of success or challenges so far. Your adjustments made in January have now been in place long enough to evaluate them. The processes and tasks that have not paid off can be replaced with options that will hopefully serve you better. You might also be able to double down on the things that have worked well. Consider things like A-B testing and that you might know have a clear direction with either A or B. At this point, the evaluation period can end. There is no need to keep checking the score once a winner has been decided.

    Looking Ahead

    It never hurts to start to position yourself for the next race or objective. You can wait until November or December to start planning for the next year, or you can start today. There are often things you can do to help inform decisions to be made down the road. First, consider what sort of options you want to assess for the next year. Then keep an eye out for articles or other ways to get a jump start on assessing whether an option is worthwhile or if it is better to pass. When you put something on your mental radar and let it sit, you can often end up with a lot of material for that decision almost for free. You will find that you pay more attention to passing articles and discussions than you would otherwise.

    Adjust and Execute After A Mid-Year Review

    Once you have assessed where you are and where you want to be, it is time to make adjustments. These can be as little and simple as changing metrics or reporting up to scrapping a plan and going back to the drawing board. Do not be afraid to make big changes at this point. There is nothing to be gained by dragging out a losing cause. No one likes bad news. However, when you take the big step of re-assessing your goals and plans, you can properly set expectations for the remainder of the year. We all have seen situations where the goal line is adjusted multiple times in minor ways. These “corrections” can lead to frustration and wasted resources. A mid-year review is a perfect occasion to take a larger step and make a more significant course correction.

    The good news in all of this is that you have enough time to make these changes and still evaluate them at year-end. Our mid-year review and adjustments provide an opportunity to cut losses and start forward on a path to success six months sooner. However, that does require us to take a hard look at where we are and how we got here with an eye towards improvement. As with annual planning and review, look to change as a path to improvement rather than merely accepting failure.