The Process is Dead, Long Live the “End to End” Process . . .
“The King is dead, long live the King” was the phrase used to announce the passing of a French 15th century monarch whilst also combining the recognition of their heir.
I suspect it was spoken in French rather than English but that could be regarded as pedantic.
I like this sentiment because whilst it recognises the passing the time and the related change, it also encompasses the idea that things do not change as much as we might think.
“Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”.
There you go, I managed it . . . . 😉
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Whilst this can be regarded as a cynical acceptance of the status quo, suggesting that despite superficial shifts or efforts, the fundamental problems or nature of a situation remain entirely unchanged, my experience is that it is always worth bearing in mind.
Michael Lee wrote an interesting post that started with “Your AI strategy is perfect. That’s why it’s worthless.”
He argues, rightly in my opinion, that the supply of plausible ideas has boomed in the age of AI, but the ability to execute them has not.
The “execution problem” is alive and well, and underscores the need for more focus on “XQ” (Execution Quotient, a great termed coined by Deborah Kops a few days before I thought I had invented it, only to realise I had read her post and agreed so passionately, I thought it was my own idea 😉)
We are drowning in opportunities that we fail to execute.
This, I suspect, is partly to do with our fascination for silver bullets and the idea, often suggested, that “processes” are a thing of the past, now replaced by the probabilistic beauty of AI . . .
It doesn’t take a lot of thinking or business experience to debunk the idea that processes are dead.
Real processes, not workflows, but end-to-end business cycles.
Revenue, Product, People, Spend, Supply Chain, Production . . . .
Michael reminds us of BCG’s 10/20/70 rule . . .
Success is . . . .
- Algorithms: 10%
- Tech and data: 20%
- People and process: 70%
Real transformation hinges on people and end-to-end process. Without strong, people-centered process strategies, even the best AI initiatives can, and will, fall short.
BCG argue that the pacesetters are guided by this 10-20-70 rule:
- 10% of a company’s efforts should be focused on algorithms
- 20% on technology and data
- 70%, the lion’s share, on people and processes
Far be it for me to bang the drum for BCG, but it happens to be my/our view too.
Even our own focus on algorithms is targeted at end-to-end processes, as is our focus on technology and data. A unifying strategy.
An end-to-end process focus can drive the genuine business transformation outcomes we are striving for.
After all the hype over AI, only one in four companies (at best) have cracked the code and are finding real value. Most are still stuck, unable to translate experiments into real business impact.
What sets the leaders apart?
End-to-end process focus and XQ.
See? I got there in the end. You can tell that my rambles aren’t AI generated 😉
You can read Michael Lee’s post “Winners are building execution architecture” here . . .
You can read the BCG article here . . .
You can read Deborah Kops’ post on XQ here . . .
Thanks for reading . . .
The Process is Dead, Long Live the “End to End” Process . . .