Stone Soup

This post is about business process automation: using computers to make people more efficient and effective. These days, with computer hardware so fast and software so powerful, the most precious resource in most business settings is human attention. Computer systems should help conserve and focus human attention, not drain it away.

Growing up, I read a lot of folk tales and as an information systems consultant am often reminded of one of my favorites: Stone Soup. Here is the uninspired Wikipedia synopsis, but find a copy of the real thing if you like the idea.

The basic idea is that while a group of people are unlikely to pull together to help you, even if it helps them, they will participate in a sure thing.

I find this is a common situation with our clients: no one wants to stick their neck out to launch a project, but everyone is happy to participate in an already-going-well project, especially if participation buys them something.

Thanks the last 20% rule (apparently more correctly known as the Pareto Principle), I find that I can do the 20% of work that sets the stage on my own dime, as a proof of concept, then do the rest of the work once the client sees that success is just over the line.

In fact, once they get rolling, clients often for 120%. Why not? The first 20% was free.

So, as as customer, why not get the 80% for cheap? In theory, you shouldn't settle for the easy 80% because, as any one with experience with business process automation  can tell you, that easy 80% is what separates the bad from the adequate; that final 20% is what takes you from adequate to excellent.

I am a realist, however: for many (the majority?) of organizations, going for the easy 80% would be a big step up. So by all means, try to get it. The tricky part is knowing how much you can get out of your current environment. If the environment you have is at capacity, then you have to look elsewhere for improvement. Either get some consulting help or new software or (gasp!) put manual processes in place to make up for computer system shortfall.

Sometimes we see computer systems which are fine systems but not properly configured for their environments; in this case, if people put manual procedures in place as work-arounds, we understand. Adding manual labor is always regrettable but sometimes necessary.

But remember the story of the man, the boy and the donkey: first the boy rides and passersby chide the boy for letting his elder walk; then the man rides and the passersby chide the man for letting his child walk; finally, the man and the boy carry the donkey and the passerby mock them for doing the donkey' work. If you are carrying your donkey, you need to consider the possibility that someone isn't doing their job.