DOMP? Methodology - Love It or Leave It!

Part I: Love it!

Tadeu Cruz

Many people know that I am the creator of the DOMP? Methodology, specialized in mapping, analyzing, modeling, organizing and managing business processes. Many others do not know, because they want to or because they really do not know, it does not matter.

Well, whether you know it or not, I am the creator of the DOMP? Methodology for over 30 years, one of the few methodologies for designing, analyzing, improving and modeling organizational processes that exist in the world (I avoid saying in the world because it is always possible that someone has created something more detailed than the DOMP? Methodology, even though today it is possible to know everything that exists in the world).

I haven't had the patience or time to count how many elements the DOMP? Methodology documents in any organizational process, but there are dozens. Perhaps this, this possibility of detailing, is the breakeven point that makes people love or hate the DOMP? Methodology.

The history of the DOMP? Methodology is as follows.

DOMP? began over 30 years ago, when I published the book Reengenharia na Prática, by Editora Atlas, in 1994.

I have always worked in the Information Technology area. Some time I have worked for large Information Technology manufacturers, some time I have worked for large Information Technology users.

I have always worked in the Information Technology area. Some time I worked for large Information Technology manufacturers, some time I worked for large Information Technology users.

For example, I worked at Honeywell Bull, at the time one of the three largest mainframe manufacturers in the world; I worked at Hewlett-Packard, HP, at the time one of the largest Information Technology manufacturers in the world. I worked at Saab Scania do Brasil, one of the largest manufacturers of heavy trucks in the world. I worked at PISA, Papel de Imprensa S.A, one of the only two newsprint manufacturers in Brazil.

Enough. It's a long story!

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, I had a huge problem with the O&M area. I thought it was a “kind of useless” area, because the O&M analysts were only concerned with routines (there was no mention of processes in the administrative area at the time), with forms, which they produced by the dozen, with layouts, cutting out small models of months, chairs, cabinets and discussing with users the space that each one could gain in a new area within the company.

I will tell you a true story.

The following events were witnessed by me a long time ago, more precisely at a time when O&M was still a strong presence in many companies.

One day, an Organization & Methods manager at a large company in the automotive sector gave the following task to one of his employees.

- "Mr." Palmeira, I need you to take on this task.

- Yes, boss.

- You are going to document the current flow of information in the purchasing department. I want the complete flow, described and drawn graphically.

- Okay, boss.

- I want all the steps documented; from the moment the user delivers the purchase requisition to the purchasing department until the time the material arrives at reception. Do you understand, "Mr." Palmeira?

- Yes, said Mr. Palmeira, already making a move to get up from his chair to immediately begin the requested work.

- Calm down, "Mr." Palmeira, calm down, said the boss. I haven't finished explaining the task yet.

- Do you have any more tasks, boss?

The boss, without answering the question directly, continued.

- After you assess the current situation of the purchasing department, I want you to design a new information flow taking into account the new system that the systems team is developing. Understood?

- Yes, said "Mr." Palmeira. Can I start now?

- Are you involved in any other task?

- Yes, but it's nothing very important.

- Then you can start right away, said the boss, dismissing "Mr." Palmeira.

At that time, I was a Technical Support Manager, a specialty that, in addition to having to deal with all areas of the company, gave me prestige and money. Furthermore, it allowed me to be constantly on the move and visiting all areas in order to make sure that everything was running normally with regard to the use of data processing resources on the Organization's mainframes.

In addition to this mobility, which allowed me to collect countless stories, I was able to follow this case in a particularly special way by sitting in an area adjacent to the O&M area. That is why, some time later, to my surprise, I saw "Mr." Palmeira return with the finished work under his arm. José Roberto, who was the O&M manager, said:

- Is the work ready, "Mr." Palmeira?

- Yes, boss, the survey is done.

- Let me see.

José Roberto took the folder from "Mr." Palmeira's hands and, placing it on his desk, examined it for some time. First, he examined the current flow, then he examined the new flow proposed by "Mr." Palmeira. He placed both on the desk, one next to the other, and looked at both in comparison. The same number of pages that one had, the other had.

From afar I observed the scene with interest.

The new flow didn't differ much from the old one; at least in size, they were both the same. The old flow took up about five pages of A4 paper, and the new one did the same. And both were very well drawn.

After some time in silence, studying the two flows, José Roberto said:

- "Mr." Palmeira, you need to reduce this new flow. It's too big.

- What do you mean, reduce it, he asked.

- Try to reduce it so that it takes up no more than one or two pages, the boss explained succinctly.

"Mr." Palmeira stood up, picked up the folder, and, giving the impression that he had understood everything that "Zé" Roberto had asked, walked away.

That scene caught my attention for two reasons.

The first was that "Mr." Palmeira had drawn two practically identical workflows; both the old and the new had been designed with the same number of tasks. The second was the way in which "Zé" Roberto had asked "Mr." Palmeira to rationalize the new workflow, "... reduce it to a maximum of one or two pages, "Mr." Palmeira kept mulling it over to himself."

Someday later, "Mr." Palmeira returned with the same folder under his arm and, placing it on his boss's desk, said:

- Okay, boss, I've done what you asked.

- Let me see.

- Here it is, look. I reduced the new flow to just one page.

At that moment I saw José Roberto turn white, blue, purple, red, I think with rage. He put both hands on his head and, resting them on the table, remained like that for a moment, quiet.

I didn't know if he was thinking, praying or crying. I got up and went to his table, walking in a somewhat careless way, as if I didn't care, but I was dying of curiosity.

Seeing me approaching, José Roberto said:

- Okay, "Mr." Palmeira. You can leave it here and go back to your seat.

"Mr." Palmeira stood up and, with an expression that denoted complete ignorance, walked away from José Roberto's table.

- What happened, "Zé"?

He told me the story, which I had followed from afar, and showed me the solution that "Mr." Palmeira had found to reduce the new flow to just one page.

"Mr." Palmeira took each page containing a part of the new flow and, reducing it on the reprographic copying machine (Xerox), left each one in a size that allowed him to paste all the parts of the new flow onto a single sheet of paper.

That's how he reduced the new flow!

What an ingenious solution!

This really happened and, as incredible as it may seem, in a large, multinational company with an Organization, Systems & Methods department full of experienced people, 80 people in all! I don't remember what "Zé" Roberto did to "his" Palmeira, but I remember that those were happy times! Someone could afford to commit such an atrocity and, if he were fired, and I mean "if" he were fired, he would soon be employed again.

As a rule, this was the role of O&M in organizations at that time. Just to give you an idea, we are talking about the 1970s and early 1980s.

But, as the saying goes: “If you spit in the air, it will fall on your face.”

A popular proverb that means that negative actions or words directed at others can end up hurting the person who performed them. It is a warning about the negative consequences of ill-intentioned or reckless behavior.

Well, to make a long story short, after the emergence of ISO 9000 in the 1980s, I started to love O&M, because it now had a more holistic view, encompassing the Organization as a whole through the documentation of organizational processes.

In the 1990s, Michael Hammer, an American professor, launched the concept of reengineering, and after a trip to the United States, I decided to write about reengineering, creating a methodology for documenting organizational processes to put the concept of reengineering into practice. This is where the DOMP? Methodology came from, which is why I wrote the book Reengenharia na Prática, published by Atlas, 1994.

It was a book that quickly sold over 2,000 copies. After it sold out, my publisher asked me to make some updates and the book was re-released with the title Manual de Organiza??o.

Some time later, I heard, from some friends at HP and other large companies that the managers of the consulting area of these companies bought the book Reengenharia na Prática and told their consultants to read it.

- Do you want to learn about processes? Read this book by Tadeu Cruz.

This news gave me great pleasure and pointed me in the right direction: I should be a writer. That's what I did, with 37 books written so far and a few more projects in the pipeline!

But let's get back to the DOMP? Methodology.

The methodology is much more than a simple set of guidelines on how to analyze, improve and organize business processes. It is a repository of dozens of templates that not only document dozens of elements that exist in all types of processes, but also have the real potential to document any process, existing in any organization.

The DOMP? Methodology has already been used, directly by me or by third parties, in dozens of organizations, in dozens of countries. Organizations such as Petrobrás, Solectron, Agenda Assessoria, the Institute of Pension Management and Social Protection of the State of Pará, the Bank of Mozambique, the Banco de Crédito e Investimento (both in Mozambique), the Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, the Instituto de Prevision Social del Paraguay, Toyotoshi de Paraguay, in short, dozens of uses.

But...

"All unanimity is stupid", as our great playwright Nelson Rodrigues said. And it really is.

I don't like unanimity, because it's as if everyone likes a food that is crap, but no one has the courage to say what they think. I think this is an example of "unanimity".

There are people who don't like the DOMP? Methodology for a variety of reasons, but never for a truly coherent one, based on evidence and plausible, logical reasons.

Today, we are in the 21st century and a lot of nonsense, a lot of nonsense continues to be said and done in the name of organizational processes. One of the things that irritates me the most is when people ask:

- Is the DOMP? Methodology an Agile Methodology?

And I have to explain the same thing for the thousandth time:

- No, it is not. Agile Methodology is applied in the development of systems or software development projects.

In the next article I will talk about the disasters that occurred with the inappropriate use of the DOMP? Methodology and those who “hated” it at some point.

And to conclude, here is the meaning of DOMP?

Em Português: Documenta??o, Organiza??o e Melhoria de Processos.

En Espa?ol: Documentación, Organización y Mejoría de Procesos.

In English: Documentation, Organization and Improvement of Processes.