In the prologue to their 2001 revision, Hammer and Champy acknowledge that reengineering has received heavy criticism after the initial high praise; a large portion of that criticism argues that reengineering is well past its day in the sun.
An overview of how change works, and what can be done to accelerate transformational change in an industry. Created for the Openlab Workshop, December 1-2, 2015 in Washington, DC.
The complete-guide-to-business-process-managementarvindksingh6
Another idea to promote affiliate products on your blog is writing a comparison post. Start with selecting two products. It can get you more results if you’ve personally used the product. It will certainly help you write a detailed comparative post on your affiliate product.
An overview of how change works, and what can be done to accelerate transformational change in an industry. Created for the Openlab Workshop, December 1-2, 2015 in Washington, DC.
The complete-guide-to-business-process-managementarvindksingh6
Another idea to promote affiliate products on your blog is writing a comparison post. Start with selecting two products. It can get you more results if you’ve personally used the product. It will certainly help you write a detailed comparative post on your affiliate product.
Every decision we make is one made on behalf of your user. How do we know the decisions we make are the right ones? It is time we initiate a conversation: About where we are and where we want to go, about how we define and measure goodness and rightness in the digital realm, about responsibility, about decisions and consequences, about building something bigger than our own apps. It is time we talk about the ethics of web design. This talk introduces a method for ethical decision making in web design and tech. Rather than a wet moralistic blanket covering the fires of creativity, ethics can be the hearth that makes our creative fires burn brighter without burning down the house.
Presented at WordCamp Europe 2018: https://2018.europe.wordcamp.org/session/the-ethics-of-web-design/
Module 4 SLP, we return our focus from the specifics of informat.docxhelzerpatrina
Module 4 SLP, we return our focus from the specifics of information technologies and the formulation of ideal strategies to the wider world of real corporate behavior. Our emphasis now shifts to the actual implementation of information technologies and the sociotechnical dynamics that implementation not infrequently founders upon. No technical solution—however brilliantly designed or competently backstopped or elegantly integrated with other corporate plans—is any better than its implementation at the lowest levels of the system to which it is addressed. All too frequently, plans and solutions are developed in a vacuum apart from the context within which they are to be deployed and used. It is hard to overestimate the quantity of corporate resources that have been squandered on poor IT implementations over the years—to say that it would exceed the GNP of many third world countries would probably not be an exaggeration. Implementation is by no means an all-or-nothing proposition; even though the full measure of system changes may not be as successful as desired, there can often be positive local results, particularly if the implementation process is oriented toward learning as well as doing, or even more so, doing unto others. The one sure way to implementation failure is to assume that all knowledge resides in IT management—or even in management generally. Success is inevitably based on user involvement in varying degrees, generally more rather than less.
All modules in the course draw on everything that you have learned in the program; however, this module most specifically draws on your courses in computer-human interaction, systems development, and project management as well as on your general introductory courses. Implementation is a drawn-out process requiring effective collaboration among many different kinds of specialists and generalists, extended over time and across space, and requiring explicit attention to both the social and technical systems of the organizational units affected. Above all, implementation must be sensitive to feedback, resilient enough to deal with changing circumstances, personnel, and goals, and focused much more on the users than on the technologists. Effective implementation always embraces the fundamental sociotechnical criterion of "incompletion"—that is, the idea that no change process is ever "finished" as such, but that change is an ever-flowing river in which one set of adjustments is merely the prelude to another set. Sociotechnical life in organizations is a soap opera, not a novel. There is never a "happily ever after," just an ever-evolving and constantly reconfiguring cast of players and problems. Sometimes things get better; sometimes they get worse—but they will always be different.
Videos of Interest… Something to Think About…
Andrew McAfee discusses an array of revolutionary technologies that are replacing routine jobs with machines that can speak, understand, translate, and hear. McAfee bel.
Research Paper titled “Innovation through Intrapreneurship – A Management’s Perspective” on how manager's can foster an environment of innovation & spirit of startups in an Enterprise.
LASA 1
Course Project Task 1
Introduction
Breast reconstruction is a type of surgery where women have had breast removed or shaped.
Birth control pills-this are pills used to control pregnancy
Viagra-this is an oral treatment for erectile dysfunctionality.
The insurance making payments on breast recontructions,birth control pills and Viagra is a controversial issue since there are various opinions on the issues. The issues have brought discussions whether the insurance should pay for them. Some people agree to it and others and others disagree.
The arguments drawn
When different argument on breast reconstruction is made conclusions is drawn, that breast reconstruction is for health reasons and insurance will reduce its cost. Also it is for beauty reasons that are personal it can be self esteem if the breast are too small too big that one needs to shape them
The insurance should pay for the breast reconstruction
The issue on birth control pills brings varied conclusions, people prevent pregnancy for various reason, health reasons, to control the number of children.
The controversy comes when children under the age of 18 use the pills
The arguments drawn
Viagra brings a lot of discussions since it is suppose to be used when you are impotent. The conclusion was Viagra should not be used for no reason when engaging in sex since it has side effects.
The insurance company's should not pay for Viagra
Different evidence
Breast reconstruction as researched by the America research of plastic surgery, it is advantageous for people having breast cancer. Insurance will reduce its cost. In the book Hunt, K. (2008). Breast cancer. New York: Springer advantages of reconstruction is stated.
Birth control pills according to planned parent hood is advice and visiting the doctor before using any contraceptive
Different evidence
Viagra according to the Drug center has various side effects to the user. According to the study cause
Vision changes
Penis erection for a long time which is painful
Vision changes
Irregular heartbeat
With this evidence conclusion is draw that Viagra is harmful to our health
In the book Bonnard, M. (1999). The Viagra alternative. Rochester, Vt.: Healing Arts Press.the side effects are also stated
conclusions
Because of the different researches that has lead to different conclusions that are mentioned above. However the conclusion too have peoples opinions that counter.
For instance the birth control pills arguments parents argue against it that it bring a lot of immorality in the society
They also argue that there are side effects that are caused by hormone based pills.
Conclusions
In conclusions the insurance company in my state should be required to pay for insurance on breast reconstruction, birth control pills and not on Viagra
According to the discussions it is of help to pay for insurance more on breast reconstructions because of the breast cancer patient.
References
Hunt, K. ( ...
Key Elements of Successful New Executive Onboarding (Tips & Best Practices) LizzyManz
Why is executive onboarding important to all stakeholders in the executive search process, & how retained search firms can bridge the gap between recruiting, hiring, and onboarding executive placements.
More Related Content
Similar to Can Today’s COO Still Benefit from Hammer and Champy’s Reengineering the Corporation?
Every decision we make is one made on behalf of your user. How do we know the decisions we make are the right ones? It is time we initiate a conversation: About where we are and where we want to go, about how we define and measure goodness and rightness in the digital realm, about responsibility, about decisions and consequences, about building something bigger than our own apps. It is time we talk about the ethics of web design. This talk introduces a method for ethical decision making in web design and tech. Rather than a wet moralistic blanket covering the fires of creativity, ethics can be the hearth that makes our creative fires burn brighter without burning down the house.
Presented at WordCamp Europe 2018: https://2018.europe.wordcamp.org/session/the-ethics-of-web-design/
Module 4 SLP, we return our focus from the specifics of informat.docxhelzerpatrina
Module 4 SLP, we return our focus from the specifics of information technologies and the formulation of ideal strategies to the wider world of real corporate behavior. Our emphasis now shifts to the actual implementation of information technologies and the sociotechnical dynamics that implementation not infrequently founders upon. No technical solution—however brilliantly designed or competently backstopped or elegantly integrated with other corporate plans—is any better than its implementation at the lowest levels of the system to which it is addressed. All too frequently, plans and solutions are developed in a vacuum apart from the context within which they are to be deployed and used. It is hard to overestimate the quantity of corporate resources that have been squandered on poor IT implementations over the years—to say that it would exceed the GNP of many third world countries would probably not be an exaggeration. Implementation is by no means an all-or-nothing proposition; even though the full measure of system changes may not be as successful as desired, there can often be positive local results, particularly if the implementation process is oriented toward learning as well as doing, or even more so, doing unto others. The one sure way to implementation failure is to assume that all knowledge resides in IT management—or even in management generally. Success is inevitably based on user involvement in varying degrees, generally more rather than less.
All modules in the course draw on everything that you have learned in the program; however, this module most specifically draws on your courses in computer-human interaction, systems development, and project management as well as on your general introductory courses. Implementation is a drawn-out process requiring effective collaboration among many different kinds of specialists and generalists, extended over time and across space, and requiring explicit attention to both the social and technical systems of the organizational units affected. Above all, implementation must be sensitive to feedback, resilient enough to deal with changing circumstances, personnel, and goals, and focused much more on the users than on the technologists. Effective implementation always embraces the fundamental sociotechnical criterion of "incompletion"—that is, the idea that no change process is ever "finished" as such, but that change is an ever-flowing river in which one set of adjustments is merely the prelude to another set. Sociotechnical life in organizations is a soap opera, not a novel. There is never a "happily ever after," just an ever-evolving and constantly reconfiguring cast of players and problems. Sometimes things get better; sometimes they get worse—but they will always be different.
Videos of Interest… Something to Think About…
Andrew McAfee discusses an array of revolutionary technologies that are replacing routine jobs with machines that can speak, understand, translate, and hear. McAfee bel.
Research Paper titled “Innovation through Intrapreneurship – A Management’s Perspective” on how manager's can foster an environment of innovation & spirit of startups in an Enterprise.
LASA 1
Course Project Task 1
Introduction
Breast reconstruction is a type of surgery where women have had breast removed or shaped.
Birth control pills-this are pills used to control pregnancy
Viagra-this is an oral treatment for erectile dysfunctionality.
The insurance making payments on breast recontructions,birth control pills and Viagra is a controversial issue since there are various opinions on the issues. The issues have brought discussions whether the insurance should pay for them. Some people agree to it and others and others disagree.
The arguments drawn
When different argument on breast reconstruction is made conclusions is drawn, that breast reconstruction is for health reasons and insurance will reduce its cost. Also it is for beauty reasons that are personal it can be self esteem if the breast are too small too big that one needs to shape them
The insurance should pay for the breast reconstruction
The issue on birth control pills brings varied conclusions, people prevent pregnancy for various reason, health reasons, to control the number of children.
The controversy comes when children under the age of 18 use the pills
The arguments drawn
Viagra brings a lot of discussions since it is suppose to be used when you are impotent. The conclusion was Viagra should not be used for no reason when engaging in sex since it has side effects.
The insurance company's should not pay for Viagra
Different evidence
Breast reconstruction as researched by the America research of plastic surgery, it is advantageous for people having breast cancer. Insurance will reduce its cost. In the book Hunt, K. (2008). Breast cancer. New York: Springer advantages of reconstruction is stated.
Birth control pills according to planned parent hood is advice and visiting the doctor before using any contraceptive
Different evidence
Viagra according to the Drug center has various side effects to the user. According to the study cause
Vision changes
Penis erection for a long time which is painful
Vision changes
Irregular heartbeat
With this evidence conclusion is draw that Viagra is harmful to our health
In the book Bonnard, M. (1999). The Viagra alternative. Rochester, Vt.: Healing Arts Press.the side effects are also stated
conclusions
Because of the different researches that has lead to different conclusions that are mentioned above. However the conclusion too have peoples opinions that counter.
For instance the birth control pills arguments parents argue against it that it bring a lot of immorality in the society
They also argue that there are side effects that are caused by hormone based pills.
Conclusions
In conclusions the insurance company in my state should be required to pay for insurance on breast reconstruction, birth control pills and not on Viagra
According to the discussions it is of help to pay for insurance more on breast reconstructions because of the breast cancer patient.
References
Hunt, K. ( ...
Similar to Can Today’s COO Still Benefit from Hammer and Champy’s Reengineering the Corporation? (20)
Key Elements of Successful New Executive Onboarding (Tips & Best Practices) LizzyManz
Why is executive onboarding important to all stakeholders in the executive search process, & how retained search firms can bridge the gap between recruiting, hiring, and onboarding executive placements.
5 Factors That Will Help Your Company Win the War for TalentLizzyManz
In this post for Process Street, We’ll explore this phenomenon affecting the working world and look at some ways your business can continue to onboard top talent despite the shortages of workers.
Prevent Employee Churn & Ensure New Hires Don’t Regret Their Decision LizzyManz
This Process Street post will cover why churn happens — specifically among Millennials and Gen Z in the post-pandemic job market — and what you can do to prevent it.
Level up Your Teamwork: Introducing Process Street for Microsoft Teams LizzyManz
If Microsoft Teams is your hub for collaboration and teamwork, you can now easily stay informed and take action on all of your Process Street workflows right where your team already operates: Welcome to Process Street for Microsoft Teams.
4 Ways to Optimize Your Internal Mobility Program for Employee RetentionLizzyManz
From cost-saving to fostering a diverse workforce, it’s no surprise that career mobility should be your priority. So, how do you optimize your internal mobility program and what can you get from such optimization?
Process Design Masterclass: Top Tips from a Process Design Expert LizzyManz
Anne Perry, Process Street's resident process design expert, shares how we've built processes for hundreds of teams to help make work fun, fast, and faultless.
Employee Metrics: 9 Essential Data Points to Track in 2022 LizzyManz
There are ton of metrics you could measure as a People and Talent lead at a fast-growth company. But tracking them all simply isn’t valuable. Instead, you should be economical and focus on a few metrics that can tell you the most about your function, keeping the rest in the background until you need to delve a bit deeper.
Noise is everywhere, and it affects every decision we make. We all know to check our biases when it comes to important decisions, but how often do you check your noise?
Masters of Process Episode 1: On Deck with Michael Gill and Curtis CummingsLizzyManz
Masters of Process brings you the no-code revolution in full. Join us as we meet with top innovators in the space and explore how they are reinventing the way a modern business operates. Brought to you by industry insiders from No Code Ops and Process Street, each half hour episode is a goldmine of productivity, products, and scaling.
How to Create a Runbook: A Guide for Sysadmins & MSPsLizzyManz
A runbook is a set of standardized documents, references and procedures that explain common recurring IT tasks. Instead of figuring out the same problem time and time again, you can refer to your runbook for an optimal way to get the work done.
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered QualityInflectra
In this insightful webinar, Inflectra explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming software development and testing. Discover how AI-powered tools are revolutionizing every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), from design and prototyping to testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Learn about:
• The Future of Testing: How AI is shifting testing towards verification, analysis, and higher-level skills, while reducing repetitive tasks.
• Test Automation: How AI-powered test case generation, optimization, and self-healing tests are making testing more efficient and effective.
• Visual Testing: Explore the emerging capabilities of AI in visual testing and how it's set to revolutionize UI verification.
• Inflectra's AI Solutions: See demonstrations of Inflectra's cutting-edge AI tools like the ChatGPT plugin and Azure Open AI platform, designed to streamline your testing process.
Whether you're a developer, tester, or QA professional, this webinar will give you valuable insights into how AI is shaping the future of software delivery.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
Slack (or Teams) Automation for Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Soluti...Jeffrey Haguewood
Sidekick Solutions uses Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions Apricot) and automation solutions to integrate data for business workflows.
We believe integration and automation are essential to user experience and the promise of efficient work through technology. Automation is the critical ingredient to realizing that full vision. We develop integration products and services for Bonterra Case Management software to support the deployment of automations for a variety of use cases.
This video focuses on the notifications, alerts, and approval requests using Slack for Bonterra Impact Management. The solutions covered in this webinar can also be deployed for Microsoft Teams.
Interested in deploying notification automations for Bonterra Impact Management? Contact us at sales@sidekicksolutionsllc.com to discuss next steps.
GraphRAG is All You need? LLM & Knowledge GraphGuy Korland
Guy Korland, CEO and Co-founder of FalkorDB, will review two articles on the integration of language models with knowledge graphs.
1. Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 3DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 3. In this session, we will cover desktop automation along with UI automation.
Topics covered:
UI automation Introduction,
UI automation Sample
Desktop automation flow
Pradeep Chinnala, Senior Consultant Automation Developer @WonderBotz and UiPath MVP
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Kubernetes & AI - Beauty and the Beast !?! @KCD Istanbul 2024Tobias Schneck
As AI technology is pushing into IT I was wondering myself, as an “infrastructure container kubernetes guy”, how get this fancy AI technology get managed from an infrastructure operational view? Is it possible to apply our lovely cloud native principals as well? What benefit’s both technologies could bring to each other?
Let me take this questions and provide you a short journey through existing deployment models and use cases for AI software. On practical examples, we discuss what cloud/on-premise strategy we may need for applying it to our own infrastructure to get it to work from an enterprise perspective. I want to give an overview about infrastructure requirements and technologies, what could be beneficial or limiting your AI use cases in an enterprise environment. An interactive Demo will give you some insides, what approaches I got already working for real.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
Essentials of Automations: Optimizing FME Workflows with ParametersSafe Software
Are you looking to streamline your workflows and boost your projects’ efficiency? Do you find yourself searching for ways to add flexibility and control over your FME workflows? If so, you’re in the right place.
Join us for an insightful dive into the world of FME parameters, a critical element in optimizing workflow efficiency. This webinar marks the beginning of our three-part “Essentials of Automation” series. This first webinar is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to utilize parameters effectively: enhancing the flexibility, maintainability, and user control of your FME projects.
Here’s what you’ll gain:
- Essentials of FME Parameters: Understand the pivotal role of parameters, including Reader/Writer, Transformer, User, and FME Flow categories. Discover how they are the key to unlocking automation and optimization within your workflows.
- Practical Applications in FME Form: Delve into key user parameter types including choice, connections, and file URLs. Allow users to control how a workflow runs, making your workflows more reusable. Learn to import values and deliver the best user experience for your workflows while enhancing accuracy.
- Optimization Strategies in FME Flow: Explore the creation and strategic deployment of parameters in FME Flow, including the use of deployment and geometry parameters, to maximize workflow efficiency.
- Pro Tips for Success: Gain insights on parameterizing connections and leveraging new features like Conditional Visibility for clarity and simplicity.
We’ll wrap up with a glimpse into future webinars, followed by a Q&A session to address your specific questions surrounding this topic.
Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your FME expertise and drive your projects to new heights of efficiency.
Dev Dives: Train smarter, not harder – active learning and UiPath LLMs for do...UiPathCommunity
💥 Speed, accuracy, and scaling – discover the superpowers of GenAI in action with UiPath Document Understanding and Communications Mining™:
See how to accelerate model training and optimize model performance with active learning
Learn about the latest enhancements to out-of-the-box document processing – with little to no training required
Get an exclusive demo of the new family of UiPath LLMs – GenAI models specialized for processing different types of documents and messages
This is a hands-on session specifically designed for automation developers and AI enthusiasts seeking to enhance their knowledge in leveraging the latest intelligent document processing capabilities offered by UiPath.
Speakers:
👨🏫 Andras Palfi, Senior Product Manager, UiPath
👩🏫 Lenka Dulovicova, Product Program Manager, UiPath
Dev Dives: Train smarter, not harder – active learning and UiPath LLMs for do...
Can Today’s COO Still Benefit from Hammer and Champy’s Reengineering the Corporation?
1. 1/17
August 11, 2021
Can Today’s COO Still Benefit from Hammer and
Champy’s Reengineering the Corporation?
process.st/reengineering-the-corporation-benefits
Leks Drakos
August 11, 2021
I view most management gurus with the same wariness and suspicion the average person
might approach a traveling medicine show peddling sparkling water as a miracle cure. Or, in
this case, basic common sense as innovative management techniques.
Recently, I picked up Reengineering the Corporation by Dr. Michael Hammer and James
Champy, both highly lauded as leading practitioners of their own concept. Based on their
personal bios and their book, both are imminently pleased with themselves about this.
Fair enough. If I’d built an entire career on a single concept, I’d be pretty pleased with myself,
too.
But is their idea still relevant nearly 30 years later?
I wanted to find out, so I asked many experts many, many questions (shoutouts to the ones
who didn’t file restraining orders! You’re the best 💖) and read far too many long-winded
reports.
2. 2/17
These are the things I’m willing to do for you. That’s how much I care.
And because I care, I’ve taken all that super relevant knowledge, filtered it through my usual
scampishness, and now offer you an overview of the book, the concept, and what it means for
your favorite COO.
Let’s go break some stuff.
Be the process that you want to reengineer
In the prologue to their 2001 revision, Hammer and Champy acknowledge that reengineering
has received heavy criticism after the initial high praise; a large portion of that criticism
argues that reengineering is well past its day in the sun.
Hammer and Champy disagree. If you take their word for it (I don’t), reengineering is
responsible for a flourishing US economy in 2001 (was the economy really flourishing in
2001?), putting the “monster of inflation” back in its cage, and the real force boosting US
industry – not that pesky tech industry completely revolutionizing every aspect of a person’s
life.
While 2001’s inflation rate was 2.85%, that is less than 1% higher than the ideal 2%. I’ll give
Hammer and Champy that, and forgive them for not foreseeing that the dollar would
experience a steady decline and two recessions in the following 18 years. It’s not like anyone
predicted that.
3. 3/17
(Source)
Do I sound cynical enough yet?
Studying this book presents a number of challenges. Since the re-release, tech has brought us
Twitter, TikTok, and something. AI is integral to every part of our lives, from healthcare to
entertainment to supportive friends. Undoubtedly, the world we live in is not the world
Hammer and Champy developed their idea for; the question is: Have businesses outgrown
these theories too?
Is reengineering a revolution for the 21st-century corporation or is has it – to quote
Hammer’s… interesting… bio “integrated into the DNA” of modern business?
Processes are universal. Everyone everywhere uses a process for everything. We may not
always call them processes, think of them as processes, or even think of them at all. But they
are, indeed, processes: the “clearing the table process” or the “merging into traffic process.”
Anyone else not run their “responding to email” process in a while?
No? Just me?
Cool.
Cool cool cool.
4. 4/17
At Process Street, our raison d’être is locating those “secret” processes, identifying them, and
figuring out how to make them work better.
Reengineering – and I’ll go into this more fully later – is, in many ways, about doing the
same thing.
“Process understanding […] takes nothing for granted. A reengineering team attempting to
understand a process does not accept the existing output as a given. Part of understanding a
process is comprehending what the process’ customer does with that output.” – Hammer &
Champy, RtC
That belief – understanding how the process works to realize how it could and should work –
is the very foundation of everything we do here. We are the xenobiologists of processes.
If it ain’t broke: Reorganizing organizations the Hammer & Champy
way
“Reengineering is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to
achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as
cost, quality, service, and speed.” – Hammer & Champy, RtC
Sounds good, right? It hits all those punchy notes affirming the identity stories we’ve
manufactured about ourselves as rebels and innovators – not just on the cutting edge, but
frickin creating it.
Fundamental. Radical. Dramatic. So exciting.
But what does it actually mean?
You must forgive me, dear reader, because this section will lack my customary wit and
entertaining commentary. I want to offer you an objective view of reengineering as a concept
so we all start off on the same page.
First, we have to go back in time to the early 20th century. Business organizational models
were the new kids on the block, and they were changing the way everything was done. They
revolutionized the practice of efficient manufacturing and productivity. Products were
manufactured quickly, cheaply, and – most importantly – at a high quality. Technology was
advancing in leaps and bounds. And business was very, very good.
5. 5/17
Source)
The saying goes: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and those early entrepreneurs took that adage to
heart. Their models for making cars, trains, planes, and everything else worked and worked
well. So they never thought about making changes.
Unfortunately, the world around them not only continued to advance and innovate but did so
at an ever-increasing pace. Before long – and certainly by the early ‘90s – that pace
completely outstripped the organizational frameworks that had enabled it.
Enter Dr. Michael Hammer, professor, and James Champy, theorist.
The business world, as they perceived it, had become clunky and obsolete. The strategies,
structures, and systems used by major corporations were – instead of pushing them forward
– holding them back. The world had changed, and they had failed to change with it.
“Ironically, the explanation for why companies perform badly is the identical explanation for
why they used to perform so well.” – Hammer & Champy, RtC
For Hammer and Champy, these systems were so fundamentally broken that the only
possible solution was to tear down those institutions and rebuild completely anew.
In other words, for Hammer and Champy, it was time to reengineer the corporation.
The brass tacks of business process reengineering
6. 6/17
These are what I call the 8 phases of business process reengineering. Together, they make up
a fairly general view of what reengineering entails. There isn’t necessarily a distinct
separation between every phase, and each phase could easily involve multiple steps or even
multiple processes, which is why I’ve opted for “phases” and “cycle” rather than “steps” and
“process.” It should give some context and tangibility to what we’re talking about.
Here’s how it all plays out:
Phase 1: Identify the fragmented process: The source of a problem isn’t always
immediate, but reengineering the wrong process is very costly, in every way that matters.
Phase 2: Determine the reengineering objectives: Set your OKRs and know your
intended outcome. Be specific and clear about what you want to achieve.
Phase 3: Fully understand the process: Understanding is not analysis. Analysis focuses
on what a process does; understanding is about how the process is used (and who’s using it).
7. 7/17
Phase 4: Develop an action plan: Don’t take it apart unless you know how to put the
pieces back together again.
Phase 5: Implement the action plan: Make your changes and test the reengineered
process. Then test it again. And again. And again.
Phase 6: Make the reengineered process operational: This is the hard part. You need
your people to actively use the reengineered process instead of the fragmented one. Changing
processes is a challenge; changing people is like teaching a cat to swim. It’s doable, but it’s
certainly not going to be painless for anyone.
Phase 7: Evaluate the process’s performance: Document the results and determine
the best course of action. Remember that not all short-term problems need a long-term
solution.
Phase 8: Continue to improve as needed: Once you’ve determined whether the issue is
an issue and will stay that way long-term, you can look for a solution.
…which brings us right back around to Phase 1.
The who’s who of reengineering
8. 8/17
A successful reengineering project is run by a reengineering team. Hammer and Champy
stress the importance of including both process “insiders” (those who know and use the
process well) and “outsiders” (those outside the process or department, or even the company)
to provide input on the process defragmenting.
There are four main roles to the reengineering hierarchy:
9. 9/17
1. The Leader: Usually a senior executive with the authority to sway decision-makers,
this is the person leading the rallying call for reengineering.
2. Reengineering Czar: While the Leader is responsible for hearts and minds, the
Reengineering Czar is in charge of nuts and bolts. They drive the practical side of the
project.
3. Reengineering Team: These are the “insiders” and “outsiders” I mentioned who
actually figure out how to redesign the process. It’s probably not a good idea to refer to
them as “insiders” and “outsiders,” though.
4. (Optional) The Steering Committee: Other senior managers who oversee the
reengineering strategy and progress, and work in tandem with the Czar. Usually,
decision-makers who have a stake in how it all turns out but don’t have a hands-on role.
Reengineering the Corporation: Benefits & backing
10. 10/17
I’ll be honest: I find Hammer’s style pompous and overblown. Naturally, I had to question
whether my resistance to reengineering was really about the concept or the people behind the
concept. To answer that question, I went to our COO, Jay Hanlon, who has the benefit of
being both quite affable and extremely savvy.
11. 11/17
“A lot of what they’re getting at – the idea of managers as coaches, having less hierarchy, and
more focus on the end-user – is what I like to call ‘servant leadership.’ And I’m a huge buyer of
the concept. The main idea is that decisions, trust, and autonomy should be pushed down the
organizational chart until it hurts a little.” – Jay Hanlon, Process Street
So, with my negative bias safely tucked away, this is a brief assessment of the potential
benefits of taking on reengineering as a project.
First, the book, its anecdotes, and its references are all wildly outdated, even from the 2001
revised edition. The language, too, is definitely meant to push some buttons and stoke some
fires. As Professor Brad Jackson observes:
“[Hammer and Champy’s] work was an uncanny evocation of the counter-culture movement of
the 1960s. It was chock-full of the language of revolution, urging managers to liberate
themselves and become as radical as they can.” – “Hammer, Champy, and reengineering”
I was still wearing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Sneaker Snappers (Raphael, obviously)
when Hammer first began shopping his idea around, but let’s think about big business in the
early ‘90s.
Large corporations were clunky, slow, and well out of touch with consumers and the world
they lived in. They operated on a framework that assumed only senior leadership could make
decisions and departments operated on a fairly rigid structure of duties and responsibilities.
At the time, in that environment, the only way to bring substantial change to the system was
to break the system. And that is the point Hammer and Champy were trying to make with
reengineering:
The organizational frameworks of large corporations were so inherently flawed that
attempting any sort of “fix” would only create more flaws, more inefficiencies, and more
bottlenecks. The system that had been built around Adam Smith’s ubiquitous pin factory
hadn’t moved forward in over two centuries.
To correct that level of stagnation required something… Well, something a little dramatic
and radical.
Maybe even to do with processes.
IBM
12. 12/17
(Source)
IBM is such a fan of reengineering that after using it on their own subsidiary, IBM now offers
consultancy services to help other businesses reengineer their processes.
IBM Credit Corporation’s financing process was, to put it kindly, useless. Bare minimum, in
an ideal scenario, from start to finish, it took 6 days to process a financing request. In the real
world, it often ended up lasting 2 weeks.
This was not good for the salesperson. The average IBM cost around $3000 in 1990 (that
would be over $6000 today). Even 6 days is a long time to consider whether you really want
to drop that much cash on a funky-looking magic box.
After a few false starts and several frustrated sales reps, a couple of senior managers decided
to walk a financing request through each step of the process to see exactly how long the
process took if all delays were factored out.
90 minutes later, the request had been completely processed and decided. The bulk of that 6-
day turnaround in the process was all handoffs; on average, one financing request was
handled by 8 different people, not including the sales rep.
The solution?
IBM replaced their financing specialists with generalists who had the necessary skills to
handle an average financing request. One person, the deal structurer, completed the entire
process so there were no more handoffs. For complicated cases, the deal structurer could
reach out to an expert, but IBM no longer needed a team of experts to review every request.
As a result:
13. 13/17
Turnaround was cut down to 4 hours (a 90% reduction);
The number of deals handled increased 100 times what it had been;
A “small head-count reduction” was achieved.
(Remember, though, the goal of reengineering isn’t downsizing. That’s just a perk. 🙃)
Reengineering the Corporation: Criticisms & consequences
14. 14/17
The concept of reengineering has one crucial, monumental, and undeniable flaw: The people
expected to drive the process of reengineering – middle management – generally won’t have
a job at the end of the process.
Obviously, this gives them little motivation to support and facilitate a successful
reengineering project. For our middle managers, this creates a paradox:
They support reengineering, which threatens their existence within the organization.
They oppose reengineering, which eliminates survival within the organization post-
reengineering.
As a result, even if the reengineering effort itself is successful in achieving its initial purpose,
there are often long-term costs and consequences that bring that success into question.
In his chapter on reengineering, Brad Jackson provides an excellent first-hand account of
this exact situation playing out:
The Faculty of Continuing Education, University of Calgary
(Source)
For three years, the Faculty of Continuing Education had been operating under a financial
deficit.
By anyone’s measure, this was a problem.
Jackson, along with a number of his colleagues, were intrigued by the concept of
reengineering. It seemed to offer the promise of solving their financial problems and
breaking down institutional barriers they felt were holding them back.
15. 15/17
“The sense of excitement, risk, and adventure that accompanies reengineering is a tempting
combination for individuals like myself, who tend to be frustrated with inaction and want to
make something happen immediately within their organization.” – Prof. Brad Jackson,
Management Gurus and Management Fashions
In the case of Jackson’s department, the financial difficulties were solved by reengineering
how the faculty worked. Immediately following the project, the faculty actually generated
revenue and is widely recognized as operating more efficiently and effectively than prior to
reengineering.
This improvement came with a hefty price, however. The extent of hostility and fractured
relationships between faculty members was so extensive that even more than four years later,
those relationships hadn’t been repaired. Overall morale during the reengineering project
plummeted and those driving the change found their own reputations following suit.
Through reengineering, the Faculty of Continuing Education solved their financial problem
and created a people problem.
Can today’s COO still learn from Reengineering the Corporation?
The TL;DR of it all is: Probably not. But wait –
Is the book worth reading? Not really.
Have Hammer and Champy won me over? Definitely not.
Should you understand the principles involved in reengineering? Absolutely.
Let me explain.
Hand to heart, I am a strong supporter of the break-it-to-remake-it ideology.
Midway through my Ph.D. with over half of my thesis written, I scrapped it all and started
over. My supervisors, my peers, even random acquaintances who had no real concept of what
my research actually involved all thought I was insane to throw out what amounted to – at
the time – about 60,000 words and 4 years of intense effort.
The thing is: That thesis wasn’t working. Every tweak and small alteration I made only
increased how much it wasn’t working. There were simply too many flaws to fix and fix well.
Now, don’t get me wrong: This was not an easy move. I had regrets and many weak moments
where I was tempted to resurrect the old because I wasn’t certain what the new would look
like. In the end, the thesis I submitted was substantially better than the thesis I threw out.
Even now, if a setup isn’t working or a draft isn’t going anywhere, I always opt for a blank
slate. Sometimes it just works.
16. 16/17
(Source)
But should you approach your business the same way?
If you strip away the buzzwords and salespeak, reengineering comes down to a very basic
concept: continuous process improvement.
Continuous process improvement is not radical, dramatic, or about throwing it all in the bin.
It’s incremental, it’s intentional, and it’s integrated into your daily workflows.
Say you run a workflow today that you ran yesterday and the day before, etc. Only this
morning your line manager pinged your team’s Slack channel to say the company is moving
from Policy A to Policy B. Step two in the workflow revolves entirely around Policy A.
Startups move fast. The status quo in the morning may not be the status quo by end-of-day.
Corporations have also realized that if they want to compete, they need to stay just as quick
and agile. Businesses simply can’t afford to blow up their framework for 12+ months just
because they want to shake things up a little.
“Now, if you already have a company with lots of autonomy, trust, and effective cross-
departmental collaboration, then massive, non-iterative change is not only isn’t necessary, it’s a
dangerous risk. But, on the other hand, if you’re trying to compete with startups, but run your
organization like a bank from the ‘90s, you’d better be willing to make massive changes or
you’ll cede the future to companies that are more nimble and better utilize their talent at all
levels.” – Jay Hanlon, Process Street
The principle of reengineering that’s still very, very relevant for today’s organization –
whatever that organization may be – is that you need to trust your people.
17. 17/17
You need to give them autonomy and empower them to make decisions and changes to the
processes that they use every day. Your employees know the ins and outs of their own
processes much better than you do, so give them the room to really make those processes
work the best they can.
Even the old-school, massive overhaul reengineering required the support and participation
of the people who know the existing processes best. You might as well get those people
making iterative changes to your processes now, and save yourself a lot of time and resources
down the road.
I’d like to finish with a quote from Hammer on process-centered organizations, because it’s
both apt and true:
“The process-centered organization is characterized by responsibility, autonomy, risk, and
uncertainty. It may not be a gentle environment, but it is a very human one. Gone are the
artificial rigidities of the conventional corporation. In its place is a world full of messiness,
challenges, and disappointments, that characterize the real world of real human beings.” –
Beyond Reengineering, 1996