Process ≠ Overhead.
Anil Rao M
Information Technology Professional | Former Chief Information Officer, SUN Pharma and Senior VP & Delivery Head, Mindtree
Formula One is the highest class of international single-seater auto racing. With man and machine and between winning and losing, fame and money, safety and danger, governance and excellence - it has all the ingredients.
While the Driver gets most of the credit for winning a race, F1 teams are perhaps the most highly-coordinated teams in any industry. In this intensely competitive sport, a crucial part of the race strategy is the Pit Stop.
An ultimate testament to the purpose, passion, process and perfection of a F1 team comes alive through the choreography and performance by a highly talented team at the Pit Stop.
In the 1950s, the best times at Pit Stops used to take “just 67 seconds!” and the best times today are less than 2 seconds. An astonishing 30x improvement! For the same outcome.
Over the years, exceptional advancements in science, technology and engineering have aided these unimaginable levels of improvements become a reality. Top notch F1 teams demonstrate and give meaning to the word "formidable".
F1 teams firmly believe there is always a way to be better. "Process" is their "way of working". Making their "Process" better is always guided by only one question, “Will it make the car go faster?”.
In the world outside F1 too, without "Process" nothing would ever get done. It should not be overdone, nor under done. Just thought through and done, right.
Information Technology Professional | Former Chief Information Officer, SUN Pharma and Senior VP & Delivery Head, Mindtree
4 年Thanks for reading and expressing your views.?Some of you have seen it through the lens of Software Development. ? Intent was to highlight that “Process” is nothing but “ways of working” in a given context. ?Processes by themselves are not an overhead.? Contexts change. ?So, no process is permanent. ? ? It will be incorrect to think that a F1 Pit Stop is “just about changing tires”, just as Software Dev is not “just about coding”. ? Over the years, Software Dev has revolved around Analyse, Design, Code, Integrate, Build, Test, Accept and Operate.?Innovations in Technology and Software Engg. have enabled software to be developed cheaper, better and faster.? ? Pit Stop crews aren’t solely occupied with changing tires. Today’s crew are some of the finest mechanics who build world class racing cars. Enormous progress has happened over the years in tooling, equipment and work practices at the Pit Stop - handling the suspension, working the jacks or handling bigger and heavier tires - to shave fractions-of-a-second off stop times. ? Software Dev teams hopefully own and frame their ways of working (“process”) that suits their context.? Lessons learnt should help improve their "process", on the go, driven by a sense of purpose.
Founder & CEO - Impactsure Technologies
4 年Great example Anil Rao M highlighting the importance of not just process improvements but also on improvements on processes. Superb ????
Business Consulting Leader with P&L- Strategy Consulting|| Large, Strategic, Enterprise Digital Programs in Retail, CPG and Logistics Industry
4 年If we are only hung up on process and not outcomes, process is not useful. Too much focus on process kills out of box thinking and innovation. A very fine balance is required. A process should be solving a problem and not create another problem.
Digital Products, Delivery Management, Agile, ERP | CRM (SAP, MS Dynamics), Mobility, RPA, AI, IIMB
4 年True, as long as it is not hindering innovation and creativity.