Schlagwort-Archive: Interaction

When optimized processes have to function in the crisis

“We have to keep moving. Now heat the ship with the ship!” On the first day the superstructure and the intermediate deck were burnt. On the second day, the masts, the rigging and sails were moved into the boiler. On the third day the railing and planks disappeared in the machine. Phileas Fogg renounced everything that was unnecessary in order to reach his destination, what he finally did – around the world in eighty days. When circumstances require, there is nothing left but to literally throw everything into the fire in order to accomplish the desired goal.

At the moment a global crisis is happening at an unprecedented speed. And the reaction is a panicky shock. Fortunately, the supply of food and other goods, fundamental infrastructures (water, electricity, waste disposal) and medical care are still running – especially through the personal engagement of the workforce. In Business the procedures, which are executed like a clockwork, are largely coming to a standstill – things are no longer produced, shipped, transported, delivered and installed as well as personal services can no longer be provided. Under completely new conditions, the still active business flows are operating and one day the stopped ones will also run again. What does this mean for the well prepared, closely knit business flows that are stuck in the IT corset? Which aspects must be considered?

  • Not every step is necessary
    Over the years, the processes were woven into a dense net – one after the other. And the machine thus created runs like a clockwork thanks to IT. With Corona this machine sputters or even stops. This is fatal for the interaction of the processes (see below). A restart of this kind might not be part of any risk plan. In order to restart business, you should
    1) Adjust your expectations, i.e. do not expect everything to run as smoothly as before;
    2) Undogmatically ramp up the areas step by step, i.e. do not fulfil all duties, but concentrate initially on those that are relevant to the results;
    3) Coordinate with suppliers, employees and customers without stress, as all are all in the same boat;
    4) Refrain from measures for the even further, the even higher and the even better during a certain period of time, i.e. do not maximize profits but minimize damages;
    5) Adhere less to existing guidelines and instead allow more personal initiatives, since the many eyes of the employees see more than the few of the management.
  • Each handover point is latently necessary
    Over the years, the interfaces between the processes, the divisions and the companies have converged in such a way that they run by themselves. Everyone knew what, when to do and what had to be delivered, by when, and in what quality. This worked well that, for example, one could rely on rolling storage bins within the framework of just-in-time. Now all the connecting factors have come to a standstill – raw materials and supplies cannot be delivered; components are no longer manufactured and sent on their way; products can no longer be assembled; customers no longer receive their products; and IT gets confused, because there is no constant flow of data. To get the whole thing up and running again, you should:
    1) Check the quality of stuck deliveries, i.e. identify and separate goods that are no longer usable;
    2) Operate the procurement and logistics processes more actively, i.e. coordinate and track deliveries more closely;
    3) Ensure the completeness of deliveries to avoid congestions;
    4) Above all, keep an eye on the IT interfaces, as the processes run in virtuality so fast that faster disasters could be generated.
  • The optimized interaction is jumbled up
    The first two points already show that the interdependencies of the various business components are disturbed by this forced interruption. Even if the walls are still standing, the image of a ruin fits more likely. In this debris, no optimized sequences can take place for the moment, although all the components are still there. Power plants and IT data centers have recovery plans. But the certified business continuity may not cover the process world. For this reason you should now:
    1) Remove disruptive debris, i.e. suspend inhibiting bureaucracy and unproductive steps;
    2) Crisis managers should be deployed, who coordinate the most important internal and external functions for the time of the state of emergency;
    3) Lost interfaces should be replaced by new ones, e.g. when suppliers go bankrupt and are no longer available due to the crisis;
    4) IT interfaces should be checked and repaired, if necessary, or at least bypass with emergency solutions.
  • Responsibilities lack the overview
    Before the crisis, the business provided an overview of incidents by means of a corresponding reporting system. An ingenious traffic light system showed those responsible an overview of the critical deviations. Now most traffic lights are red, and it is hard to decide where to look first. Even those, who have made up to now decisions without such reports, will be overwhelmed by the flood of problems. For this reason you should now take action:
    1) Identify and monitor focal points of damage limitation so that the right decisions are made;
    2) Bundle responsibilities to avoid a confusion of contradictory decisions;
    3) Define clear decision paths for the time of the crisis, i.e. who is responsible for what;
    4) Create emergency solutions, i.e. provide programs in an unbureaucratic manner that create transparency, if necessary on paper, so that blind flight is avoided.
  • The money is missing everywhere
    The financial situation is difficult to master for small and medium-sized companies which do not employ financiers and lawyers – no income, still running costs, and due payments. Faced with insolvency, you are forced to do everything by yourself. For this reason you should:
    1) Do not generate new costs, i.e. postpone new purchases and limit to those costs that promise short-term revenue;
    2) Implement initiatives with on-board resources, i.e. use internal experts cross-functionally;
    3) Exploit available, often free, opportunities, even if they do not meet the usual standard (e.g. free software on the Internet, even if it comes from unreliable regions such as the USA).

Such a crisis is unmanageable for globally interconnected economies. There are too many conflicting interests and, above all, stakeholders that want to take advantage of each other and hold themselves harmless by the society. And politicians have pushed themselves to the top to make decisions. When they turn out to be wrong, in the absence of their own expertise, the experts are to blame. There is no plan for such a far-reaching crisis that could reliably manage the whole thing. The solution lies with all those involved, who pull together in the same direction – employees, unions, managers, shareholders, lobbyists, politicians and, above all, the public. Merciless support is required. It is better to make a positive contribution of one’s own than to criticize the engagement of others. Our chance lies in using every initiative, no matter how big or small, to pull the car out of the ditch – together.

Bottom line, Phileas Fogg showed it to us. With a clear goal in mind, you can throw anything into the fire to accomplish the necessary. The task that still lies ahead is much greater than the most extensive proposals for improvement. Is the current situation as dramatic as described above? Maybe not (yet). Nevertheless, I hope that some people will be encouraged to think about their processes early on, in order to survive the crisis with as little damage as possible, especially now, when optimized processes have to function despite the crisis.

The forest – the ideal metaphor for system complexity

The small grove in the city park can be easily surrounded. The woodland that stretches from Scandinavia to the farthest corner of Siberia, is a huge challenge. And yet, both form a whole consisting of the same, various components – trees, bushes, plants, mushrooms, game, birds, reptiles, snails, insects, spiders, worms, etc. Together they make up the forest, which we do not understand, if one separately looks at only one section – the oak, the hazel bush, the hares or the viper. The same effect is produced by all other systems, e.g. organizations, cultures, the World Wide Web, projects, sciences, and economies. For many, the look at a tree, a branch, a leaf or a sprout is more meaningful than the look at the forest. As a result, one can no longer see the forest for the trees.

The following aspects apply to the forest and all types of systems.

  • The edge of the forest – A system has boundaries
    The boundaries of large woodlands, such as the Black Forest, the Amazon Rainforest, or the Taiga, are more difficult to detect than those of small woods, e.g. the Bois du Bologne, the Tiergarten or the Yoyogi Park. The boundaries are fluid. With appropriate maps, the woodland is precisely ending. The same determination is needed by all systems. An economic area, such as the EU, requires clearly defined demarcation lines since it is not aligned to continents. In the middle of Europe is Switzerland. Melilla, an exclave of the EU, is located in North Africa. The definition of the edges of a forest or a system is the prerequisite for assigning responsibilities clearly.
  • Trees, bushes, plants, animals – A system consists of systems
    It would go beyond the scope of this article to itemize the components of a forest. The crucial aspect is that these elements represent systems on their own that together constitute the forest, but at the same time they have their complex, individual life. Whether the trees are social beings, which communicate with each other and have feelings, as a German forester imagines, may be a matter of believe. In any case, it has been shown that the flora and fauna together make up the forest. It loses its viability when the interaction is disturbed. The same applies to all types of systems. A society is kept together by individuals through their legal system, their art and science, who have similar convictions and gods. If disturbances occur in this fabric, it results in a clash of civilizations with the known consequences. For effective control of a system it is crucial to identify subsystems with their needs.
  • Nature – A system lives
    The fascination of a forest is the ability to autopoiesis. If an ecosystem, like a forest, is left to itself, its components arise out of nowhere. In the right climate and with sufficient water the plants and the creatures emerge. A good example is the Icelandic island of Surtsey, which arose in 1963 out of a series of volcanic eruptions. The newly created land was populated surprisingly fast by plants and eventually by birds. The whole thing works by the fact that everything on Earth is part of a large system called Gaia. The same applies to man-made objects. Take the World Wide Web as an example. It is still based on the concepts that were developed in 1989 – http(s), URLs, hyperlinks, email, etc. And it is still evolving – the WWW is living. People in charge of a system should always be aware that the system has its own dynamics, even without their constant influence.
  • The day, month, and year – A system has cycles
    The most important cycles of a forest are determined by the earth – the day, the month, the year, the life. The changes of day and night, the course of the sun and the seasons as well as the phases of life are firmly anchored in the behavior of the forest and its elements. Everything is set in order to gather the strength in summer that brings one across the deprivable winter. Knowing these cycles makes it possible to adapt to them. Everything grows out of nothing, goes through adolescence, is productive for a certain time, and somehow descends and disappears. The forest as a whole is accustomed to this. Everywhere is something in growth and on the way of passing away. The same applies to projects. They begin as an idea, become a complex whole and are resolved in the end. The consideration of the cycles of the overall system and its components is important for its control.
  • The jungle – A system tends to equilibrium
    If a forest is left to itself, it tends to a balanced state. The trees, bushes and plants become an impenetrable whole. Only the fact that there are disturbances in nature, such as thunderstorms, hurricanes, rivers that cross the shores, animals that eat the young sprouts of a tree, and, of course, man who mercilessly intervenes in the ecosystem, the forest comes into equilibrium, i.e. nothing happens anymore. The same applies to the sciences, which are constantly finding to new insights. Our Stone Age experience was different from the medieval or today’s. The consequences of quantum physics are not yet foreseeable. The crucial finding here is that disturbances are good because they keep the system alive.
  • The surrounding – A system continuously interacts with its environment
    As already mentioned, a forest is at least embedded in another system – Gaia. Looking at the forest independently of its environment, we lose an important engine for its further development. Just as the island of Surtsey was infected with life by the sea and the air, a forest is continually pressurized by its environment. This can be the cars that drive around it or the vehicles that discharge their emissions in the next city. Even the fauna invades the forests, like the wolves, which are now wandering through Europe without the insurmountable borders. The same applies to economies. An economy needs the energy from the outside in order to grow. If the money moves inside the system only from the right into the left pocket, wealth does not increase. It takes trade with the surrounding systems to generate a value from a product or service. If the costs are zero, as in the case of today’s digital services, and if sales happens outside of one’s own system, then the surplus grows immeasurably. Losers are those who produce nothing and are supplied from the outside. The interplay of one’s own system with other systems is critical to their prosperity.

Bottom line: The forest has an unimaginable diversity. At the same time, its elements are familiar to us. This makes the complexity of systems difficult to understand. A system has determined edges, consists of other subsystems, lives in cycles, strives for equilibrium and is in continuous interaction with its environment. Thus the forest is the ideal metaphor for system complexity.