The rules of business (part two)

No one ever wants to make cock-ups, so when they happen there is something else going on.

Your business has a system for getting things done. Even if you are a one man band, you have a process and a system. Is the only way complex things can get done, especially if an action involves more than one person.

So, when the salesperson says to you that they will get something sone for you which is not regular, the chances of it going wrong are enormous.

Imagine a normal, simple order to delivery process. The sales person takes an order, the order processor, processes it, the stockmcontroller allocates it, the warehouse man picks it, and despatch send it. Five processes, for one simple order. Now, imagine that an order noramlly gets despatched tomorrow for delivery on the third day. But, in response to a request from you, the salesman promises to get it despatched today for delivery by 10am tomorrow.

Not too much of a stretch is it? Just get it packed and sent on a next by 10am. But think of the number of involved, and how many chances there are for it go wrong. It’s such a simple task, but ALL of the five people involved have to do something different from the norm to make sure it gets out as requested.

The salesman can simply forget. The order processor, used to having an extra day, perhaps normally does everything at 4pm after the courier has gone, so the sale man has to ask them to mKe sure they process it as a special. Similarly the stock controller has to make sure it gets done, and the warehouseman has to pick it faster than normal. Then despatch, used to send everything on a normal despatch, has to remember that this special one has to to go on a special 10am delivery.

So, five people, five actions, everyone is now special, and capable of going wrong. But only one of the five has actually had the conversation with you, and made a promise. Everyone else is just doing their normal job, but this one order out of all the orders has to be a special. The level of communication to make this non-standard thing happen is amazing.

No wonder it often goes wrong.

So, remember, in your own organisation and in those you deal with, if it’s not standard, it’s VERY likely to go wrong. So allow for it, cope with it, and apply rule one. never trust anybody. If you have asked for a non standard process, follow up writing and check that it gets done.

Otherwise expect to be disappointed.

Once you understand this rule, you can stop your business from committing a bad mistake. Because of rule two, things go wrong. But in trying to put them right, we also break the system, without remembering that things outside the system will go wrong. That’s why it’s easy to cock-up the cock-ups. It’s easy to make mistakes when putting things right, because you either are repeating the same non-standard thing, or put it right with a new non-standard thing.

So, when creating processes in your organisation, make room for a White glove process, where non-standard things get special treatment. But try and charge for them too, because they are naturally more expensive.