New Roles, Fewer People

I've noted how governance and process evoke visions of bureaucracy and overhead and this lengthy discussion of process-specific roles and responsibilities likely does little to dissuade that perception. Some people might be wondering if they need all of this structure and these additional people to make processes successful.

The fact is that a purely process-centric organization usually requires fewer workers and always requires fewer managers. Establishing end-to-end processes teams reduces hand offs and waste. Eliminating functional silos also eliminates the need for much of the administrative and management overhead required to assigning, scheduling, and overseeing piecemeal functional work.

In a process-centric environment, customers trigger the work and processes assign, schedule, define, and ensure the work. Managers displaced by designed and implemented processes assume either the process owner or resource manager role. Dr. Michael Hammer found organizations moving from a function-centric to process-centric work model required 20% fewer managers.