2013-04-22 Processes

Every company has a its own specific "way of doing things". They've had success with it in the past, so they turned it into a "process". McDonalds is famous for it (in Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson calls it "the three ring binder").

There are a lot of advantages to this:
- It makes it easier to teach new employees how to do things according to company guidelines.
- It ensures that everyone in the company does it the same way, which creates consistency (or at least projects the image of it to the outside world, which is often good enough).
- People who do not fully understand why something is done in a specific way can still do it, by simply being told to "follow the procedures".
That's how armies do it. And it's also how the legal system works.

There is, however, a problem with that approach: The world changes, and processes, once established, will be difficult to change.

In his book "What do you care what other people think", Richard Feynman tells the following anecdote:

For example, when they use the rounding machine, they have to put a rod through holes exactly opposite each other. There are 180 holes, so they have to make sure the other end of the rod goes through the hole 90 holes away. Now, it turns out you have to climb up into an awkward place to count the holes. It's very slow and very difficult. They thought it would be very helpful if there were four paint marks, 90 degrees apart, put on at the factory. That way, they would never have to count more than 22 holes to the nearest mark. For example, if they put the rod through a hole which is 9 holes clockwise from a paint mark, then the other end of the rod would go through the hole which is 9 holes clockwise from the opposite mark.

The foreman, Mr. Fichtel, said he wrote a memo with this suggestion to his superiors two years ago, but nothing had happened yet. When he asked why, he was told the suggestion was too expensive.

"Too expensive to paint four little lines?" I said in disbelief. They all laughed. "It's not the paint; it's the paperwork," Mr. Fichtel said. "They would have to revise all the manuals."

And of course there also this.

All that stuff about a company's processes also applies to other groups of people, and even individuals. It explains tradition and even religion. Fascinating stuff, processes.

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I planted an avocado seed today. Seems to have worked pretty well for this guy. Fingers crossed!