C H A P T E R
     10     

How I Fell In Love with Process

I was advised to come up with a different title for this chapter. It was sound advice given there is a strong possibility some readers may indeed feel it stresses emotion over business facts. I decided to stick with the title because it is not only true, it is necessary. Every time I encounter a successful process, I encounter folks who are passionate about process. For many of the people I have met, their processes are labors of love.

I fell in love with the idea of process almost 30 years ago, when I was a Data Processing Technician in the U.S. Navy. I had finished my tour on the Amphibious Command and 7^th Fleet Flag Ship USS Blue Ridge and was subsequently and thankfully assigned to “shore duty.” I went from “haze-grey-and-underway” to a sweet five-days-a-week gig at the Naval Regional Data Automation Center on beautiful Coronado Island near San Diego. Over 300 civil servants and approximately 40 U.S. Navy personnel worked in this data center serving the Pacific Fleet. After spending the first year as customer liaison and shift supervisor in their “token” Navy-only computer room, I found a spot open in their brand new Teleprocessing Group (picture 1,200 baud modems the size of the first video cassette recorders).