What is Small Business Process Management?

Business process management can help small businesses in two ways: (1) identifying repeatable processes and (2) automating them.

Automating repeatable processes (straightforward ways of doing things that you do over and over again the same way) saves time and money by removing guesswork, making training easier, and allowing you to take a break from running your business without the whole thing falling apart!

Business process management takes into account the things you do every day to make your business run and lays them out visually, so you can see just how your business looks when drawn out in a diagram.  This is a great way to discover your repeatable processes.  When you work with a small business process consultant, you talk through your business processes, where you can trim activity and where you can ramp up activity, so that your business can run more smoothly and be more profitable.

For example, if you own a small cafe or flower shop and every Monday you take inventory and order supplies, it would be ideal to find a way to automate at least part of that process.  Or, if you run a small organization of 50 employees or contractors, it would be ideal to automate the help desk system or supply ordering process.  If you are a solo entrepreneur, you can automate billing, setting up accounts, tasks you send to your virtual assistant, article writing or blogging, responding to basic questions or concerns, or even your social networking!

Small Business Process Automation in Action

You probably will recognize some or all of these things, but you may not have learned to implement them in your own business.  This is where a business process consultant can help.  Which of these is right for your business?  All of them?  None of them?

• Automated or semi-automated supply ordering (e.g., food, office supplies, etc.)
• Automated new account creation
• Frequently Asked Questions booklets or page on your website
• Help desk system for internal employees or outside clients
• Project management software
• Time tracking systems for yourself, employees or contractors
• Billing management systems
• Online postage/printing shipping labels

There a hundred more we could add to this list.  What have you automated in your small business? Leave a comment; I’d love to hear about additional ways of automating small business processes!

— Tia Peterson

In the Twelve Principles of Agile Software, # 6 says:

The most efficient and effective method of
conveying information to and within a development
team is face-to-face conversation.

I started to respond to this principle here going one direction, but I forced myself to keep reading it and now I have a different perspective.

While I believe that face-to-face can be more efficient, I do not agree that it is always most effective.  If you look a little deeper into the psychology of people and also into how we interact in groups, I think you’ll find that sometimes, being face-to-face isn’t always most effective.

Even so, it’s not that I don’t believe being face-to-face is effective, it’s that I don’t believe it is always most effective.  And now I am particularly curious as to why someone would think it is always most effective?  Haven’t you ever been in a face-to-face conversation that has gone awry?  Certain types of body language, external distractions, and facial expressions can all hinder good communication.  I’ll be honest with you, some of the clearest, most direct communication I have ever had has come via e-mail.  Straightforward questions, straightforward answers.  Nobody excused themselves in the middle of a discussion to get a cup of coffee or go to the bathroom, and if someone was rolling their eyes, I didn’t see it and wasn’t distracted by it.  What is it about being face-to-face that is so much more effective?

If the principle is more about the other “things” – like a whiteboard or scrap paper – that can help facilitate conversation… I’d buy that.  But the principle specifically states face-to-face conversation.  And, to what degree does there need to be face-to-face conversation, and at what points in the development cycle?  All stages?  I can think of times where my developers would IM me, instead of getting up and walking the 5.5 feet between our desks.  That’s not exaggerating! And I didn’t mind that one bit.

So anyway… this principle has just got me wondering.  Is face-to-face truly the most effective way of communicating to a development team?  If so, why?

— Tia Peterson