A firm usually comes to us with a process already chosen. It is the one that annoys the most senior person. It is often not the one that pays back first.
The loudest problem isn’t the largest
The loud problem is visible: a report that is late, a client who complained. The large one is quiet. It is the hour each morning that 6 people spend getting ready to work, which nobody counts because it has always been there.
What makes a good first process
- Hours, across everyone. Not the time one person spends, but the total for everyone who touches it.
- A rule. Something the person applies without thinking, which can be written down.
- A checkable result. An output that can be compared with its source.
- A neighbor. The process next to it that will be easier once this one is done.
That last one matters most. A reconciliation makes the report built on it trustworthy. A current CRM makes the follow-up possible. The first build should make the second one cheaper.
Try it on your own firm
The use case worksheet asks these questions on one page. Fill one in for the process you had in mind, and one for whatever has to happen before it.
