April 26th, 2006
Process fear
Why are you afraid of process?
Is it because it gets in the way of intuition?
I spend a lot of time railing against organizations and teams that fall in love with process at the expense of innovation. This is not a post about that.
It’s about the opposite.
Our culture embraces the intuitive craftsman. We don’t talk about Harlequin Romances or artists who paint by number. Heroism is about writing a novel or making a sale based on what’s deep inside of you… not by following a prescribed pattern.
….
If process makes you nervous, it’s probably because it threatens your reliance on intuition. Get over it. The best processes leverage your intuition and give it room to thrive.
That is a quote from a recent post on Seth Godin’s excellent blog (well worth reading the whole thing)… I love the way this collides with the thoughts I’ve been developing on Thingamy. Process is something that causes most people in small and medium businesses to raise their eyebrows and tut because they believe that “it’ll just mean the boss interfering. In large enterprises an individual’s entire department is often part of a huge orcastrated set of processes to them so their understanding of where they fit in is often hidden from them and wrapped in several suffocating levels of politics.
Think about the situation I’ve been considering for Thingamy… A company who’s value is in creating original entertainment material for distribution through various “channels”. What is their most valuable asset? The “idea”. However, they don’t make their money from the “idea” they make it from the “execution” of it. The ideas though are so important and build the intellectual capital of the company and therefore the capture of them is essential. What I was originally looking for was something to support the development of what I was calling the “ideas bank” but what I see Thingamy’s value is being able to extend beyond the bank and track an idea to its execution and beyond. What this will do in effect is not only please The Management (because they’ll see where the bottlenecks are etc) but also The Workers (because they’ll get credit for the original idea). Coming full circle back to the quote that started this ramble where it talks of being “nervous” about process, where a bunch of creatives who would be nervous or reluctant about it, they will now hopefully see the benefit that is brings by increasing the visibility and viability of their ideas.
Have no fear! Embrace the process!