Process Design Project Closure

Once the process design project team completes the previous step, they are done, and I mean done. The project is over, complete, finito. It's time for the project closure party, balloons, cookies, and pats on the back. Yes, the process must still be implemented, but that is accomplished by a completely separate project—the process implementation project.

Though the vast majority of work still lies ahead, closing out the process design project marks a significant accomplishment. So significant, that many enterprises untrained in the three phases of process management mistakenly believe they have a new process. This is almost always results in the process failing to be adopted.

These untrained enterprises seldom view process implementation as a separate and essential effort. They fixate on process design without adequate understanding of and appreciation for process implementation. They take their shiny new cross-functional swim-lane map, post it on a shared drive, and send everyone an e-mail telling them to follow the new process. They then sit back and expect the process to be followed. In a very short period of time they find that nobody is doing it. They then ask themselves, Why isn't everyone following the process?