When to Toss the Playbook and Pivot: Navigating Rule-Breaking Moments in Your Business Process
When is it OK to break the process?
Have you been asked this question before? I am a stickler for following processes, especially Technical and Operational management processes. With over a decade of experience in the Project and Service management space, I lean towards bringing a structure and an agreed-upon way of doing things, i.e., following the process. An Individual does not set up these processes; instead, it's a process (yep, to set up a process, one needs to follow the process) that has been defined and undergone rigorous reviews and approvals. Therefore, navigating away from the process does not make sense!
However, one fine morning, I faced the same question: a stakeholder was crying out for a change to remove a workflow that did not add any value and instead required 'three' unnecessary clicks before activating the 'value-driven' workflow. Our next planned release was two weeks away. Should I wait and let the team spend hours performing unnecessary clicks ( it would have been nice if they had identified these clicks before we deployed this item in production)? Who isn't guilty of not reading "T&Cs" before purchasing?
As someone overseeing process compliance, I couldn't agree to waive the process and deploy the change immediately. I suggested the requester email our Lead Developer to explain the situation and why this change must be made before a two-week sprint cycle.
The time consumption formula is as follows:
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When someone asks you when it is OK to break the process, if you have a valid business case supporting efficiency, you should toss the playbook and break the process.
Do you recall the ITIL guiding principle - Focus on value?