Fair warning: these posts are going to jump around a bit. Much as I would like to build a solid argument that convinces you that I'm right, then show you how to improve, I'm not writing a book (yet). I'm piecing this together as I go, so come along with me if you want, and enjoy the ride as we figure this out together. So while each post won't build upon the last, I promise to at least try to write something worth reading.

So, on to today's thought!

The Process Monster

Having a good process can help you save time and energy, as long as the process doesn't become an end in itself. One of my favorite business authors, Steve McConnell, talks about having a Rigid, Inflexible Process (RIP). I prefer to think of it as the Process Monster, or "this is how we do it" syndrome.

When the Process Monster rears its scabrous, time-devouring head, you go from trying to get everyone moving in the same direction to forcing everyone to march in lockstep. The Process Monster stifles creativity, tramples efficiency, and generally makes everyone stupid. He tempts you with the promise of stability, repeatability, and security, then he turns you and everyone around you into paper-churning automatons. He demands a constant diet of forms, minutes, and butt-covering documentation, which he processes and spews out into a giant file system full of "historical data" that no one ever looks at again, except when they need text to copy and paste into a new document.

Here are some signs the Process Monster has already taken control:

• You spend days or weeks filling out a form or template then never look at it again.


• The "Quick Reference Guide" for your process is 56 pages long.


• No one ever asks, "Do we need to do this?" or "Why are we doing this?"


• If someone does ask why, the answer is a sigh, followed by, "Because that's the way we do it here."


• You schedule a meeting because the schedule says it's time for one, then try to figure out an agenda for it.


• Even simple efforts have to go through all the steps, just so they can be checked off.


• Most of the documentation you produce is 90% recycled. Not the paper, the text.

When the Process Monster reigns, people spend more time checking to see if they have followed all the steps than they spend thinking about the problems they are trying to solve. They are so afraid of stepping off the beaten path that they go the long way around, even when an obvious shortcut is available. It is easier to halfheartedly do the extra work than to try to explain why the skipped a step. The organization becomes dull and stupid, no matter how smart its individual members may be, because the Process Monster allows no initiative, and creativity is punished, whether explicitly or implicitly.

Why do smart people leave big corporations and take the risk of starting their own companies? They talk about excitement, risk and reward, or being their own bosses, but the truth is this: they finally grew tired of the Process Monster's reign. Creative people, smart people cannot be kept down forever. Eventually they get tired of rowing in the galley, look down, and realize that there are no chains on their legs. Then they break out.

To be honest, though, not everyone is frightened by the Process Monster. Many find his presence comforting, a security blanket against the uncertainty of a complicated world. The Process Monster's drug's are simplicity and certainty, and he hooks a lot of people who wouldn't touch another controlled substance. But the world isn't simple, and it never stops changing, so the Process Monster's promises are illusions. His drugs will drain your life, as surely as any narcotic, while convincing you all the while that everything is just fine.

Do you know the Process Monster? Have you already sold him your soul, or is he just prowling around the edges of your group, looking for some poor sucker to invite him in?