Processes and Procedures

In business, to ensure efficiency, you should have a process for everything. You should know what needs to be done to accomplish everything you do as effectively as possible.

You may not realize it, but even if you are a one man show, you have processes that dictate the things you do. If you are a small operation, then it is likely very easy to tell me what you do on a regular basis. As you get larger, that becomes more complicated.

Ask five people in your organization how you do something. I bet you get five different answers. Five different ways of doing the same thing. Five different reasons for doing those things. Five different timelines for getting those things done.

The important distinction is between a process and a procedure. The more you can dictate a process the greater efficiency you can incorporate. However, often times, if you get too specific on a procedure, you can negate much of your efficiency. The reason is that as people become more proficient at what they do, they will invariably find short cuts to the procedures you teach them... so, what are the differences?

A process is a high-level view of tasks. It is the main steps at which something gets accomplished. For example, to the right is a section of the process that I go through to build a new web site for a client.

You can click to enlarge and see the section better.

Notice that the steps indicated are very generic. They aren't specific to how it is to be accomplished... only that it needs to be accomplished. That is a process. 

A procedure is a step by step guide on how to accomplish a task.

To the left is a sampling of a procedure for one of the tasks in my process above. It is a step by step instruction sheet for accomplishing that task.

You can click to enlarge.

Often times, it is important to follow certain steps in order to complete a task to be as efficient as possible. Some times, it doesn't matter at all.

For example, if you have a task of making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, taking out the bread is a critical first step, but it really doesn't matter whether you put the peanut butter on or the jelly on first. Putting the top on the sandwich has to come last unless you are getting creative with a traditional sandwich building exercise.

So, the question some will have... do you have to have a process for everything? My opinion is yes... you should. It doesn't have to be elaborate, but you should know what you do and how you do it. If you don't, how can you sell it? How can you tell other people what you do and why you are better?

In my opinion, the more important question is, should you have a procedure for everything? I think that entirely depends on what you are trying to get accomplished and why type of employees you want to have.

If want to hire $7 per hour employees, you better have a procedure for your tasks because it streamlines training and gives you an objective measurement for what you are trying to accomplish.

If you want to hire a $50 per hour or $100 per hour employee or contractor, then a procedure will just get in the way. Sometimes you want to have the expectation that someone will take a process and fill in the procedural gaps, but more often than not, you don't have the luxury of being able to afford the person that can do that.