PPT.

Nope, I’m not talking about powerpoint. I’m talking about organisations and how they function.?

I’ve had many titles, but what I do fundamentally hasn’t really changed in the last 20 years. Sure, the methodology has changed, people got more impatient and expected daily reports (stand-ups) instead of weekly check-ins. Management consultancies have sold their “Named Methodology”(TM) as the latest thing that’ll solve problems and slapped new labels on proven ways of implementing change/ designing new systems/ organisational structures. Organisations buy into this, because all the other cool companies are doing it.

Here’s the secret:

It isn’t difficult, but it is time consuming. Everything boils down to the interactions between three core components of any organisation:

People. Process. Technology.?

Or phrased as a question: What is being done by whom, in what order and what are they using to achieve their task/goal??

My latest title is a Service Designer, but I used this same methodology when I was a business analyst, a UXer ... and any other title I held.?

P: People.

If you are trying to solve problems, you need to understand who you are solving for. What are their goals, aspirations, pain-points, what are their moments of delight, how do they overcome challenges, do they have a cheat sheet?!?

P:Process.

What do people have to navigate through to achieve their goals? What do people do to get the job done? What order? As a user experience consultant and service design this is usually plotted in ‘customer (colleague) journeys’, service blueprints, “A day in the life of…”, and other artefacts. As business analysts, it’s typically process flows, be it in BPMN or a sequence diagram … or other flavour that gets you drawing boxes, diagrams and joining the dots. ?

The challenge I always face in with process is what level? High level to tell a story of the end-to-end journey as a Service Designer, or a low level step by step business process that a Business Analyst would use to define a workflow or system requirements or ops process?Getting this right: this is where the art and experience comes in.?

T: Technology.

What software, robot or other tool of the trade is being used. What needs to go into it to make it work. How does it validate it’s input? How does it handle errors? Who’s life does it make better? Is it being used at the right time? How does it get information in? How does it spit information out? What else does it play nicely with??

People, Processes and Technology doesn’t operate in a vacuum. There are external influences or things to consider. So often you will need to ask Why. Why do they do things that way? Why do they use that system. This starts to unpick everything that ties these things together or created the PPT in the first place. Is it regulatory pressures that forced a process to exist and a role to spring to life and a system to store the data to answer the questions? Maybe the technology was supposed to be a proof of concept, but due to external pressures turned into a production solution that wasn’t able to scale.. but it limped along until you came along asking questions.?

Problem solving 101 (aka Opportunity acquisition 101):

Understanding what’s there, if you’ve spent time looking at the three aspects and asking the question, you can usually consolidate your findings into some kind of ‘as-is’ picture/ document/ board/ wall/ artefact.? A one pager of what you've found won’t solve the problems or allow you to take advantage of your opportunities or change cultures or help people adopt the new systems and solutions you are designing/developing. Discussions, notes, samples of work, screenshots... these are the things you gather. They tell a story for you to string together and interpret .

In understanding our past and current situation, we have the power to change the future.

We can use our imaginations and start asking questions like “What if…” or “How might we…”. The power of these questions is in unpicking decisions made in the past with new information or availability of new technology or people with new skills. This can result in a radical change for the future vision of any organisation, customer journey or system.?

It’s all a learning experience. And your questions about the basics may bring fresh insight from a different perspective to the experts who need to do the jobs day to day. ??

Using this methodology I’ve achieved a number of things over the years. In the early days of my career, I ensured people could cash pay cheques at any bank branch in real time without having to wait for people to fax signatures to the branch. I helped medical practitioners claim from health insurance providers on behalf of their patients in real time. I helped to change the way people drive cars making roads safer, saving people millions in insurance premiums and I like to think many lives too. I’ve helped people change people’s relationship with money from an early age to retirement. I’m currently helping to ensure that carbon can be captured from our atmosphere into wells previously drilled for oil.?

What matters isn’t the template you use or one pager that goes into a slide deck to make a senior person look good. (Not to discount the power of keeping key stakeholders bought into what you’re doing!) It’s the process you went through and the outcomes that you deliver by exploring these three core components and asking why. That is what will help you solve problems and deliver opportunities for the people, because that’s the reason you’re doing the work. ?