Perfect Systems Adapt
This article focuses on the shortcomings of static systems and how perfect systems adapt. It is another installment of “The Manager Who Cried Wolf” and “How Purposes Allow Predictable Patterns to Change and Adapt”.
A lesson I learned the hard way:
Perfect systems adapt.
The Shortcomings of Static Systems
Rewind to 2018. “You’re an Excel Engineer.”
I took it as a compliment, and it was one. In a past life, I created and maintained what was, by all rights, and full-fledged program. It happened to be in Excel but had so much Visual Basic and other code that it was a full-fledged program.
(For those panicking, it was macro-enabled, but I did not dare delve into connecting it to other workbooks!)
As a music major with no initial programming training, I was (and am) proud of the work I did.
The work also included much more than the “admin” work I was accused of doing. I saw to it that every person who influenced or added to the system was informed or had all the prerequisites done before changes were made. It was product design and internal product release that touched every department.
This was also the source of great frustration for me. I thought, quite naively, that because I was building a pricing tool that I could build a perfect, “static” system that would always be updated the same way.
Because I had this mindset, I incorrectly assumed that products would always follow a certain set of criteria. Deals would always follow the same format. A handful of options could accommodate all.
Boy, was I wrong!
Not only is every deal one-of-a-kind (in the worst way possible, in some cases!), but things change. New offerings need new ways of presentation. Buyers’ preferences evolved. Internal process changes require different slices of a penny. Government regulations mean gigantic shifts!
My “perfect, static system” thinking had a lot of shortcomings.
I worked so much harder than I had to
People waited longer for changes
I couldn’t accommodate every business need
The business lost internal connectivity
Customers were confused about product offerings
I could go on.
When you pull back from my story, it shouldn’t be hard to find similar stories in your business.
Maybe you’re stuck in the old ways of payment. Or a set of product features that “don’t need to change.”
What else might be too rigid or too granular in your business?
The good news is there’s a better way.
Perfect Systems Adapt
For me, instead of thinking, “I’m going to build a static system that can handle all the inputs I’m always of,” I shifted towards, “What are the base components I need to account for, and how can I build a flexible framework from there?”
And that’s the crux of most of the issues I faced. I wasn’t building with the base components.
To build a perfect system that adapts, build with base components.
In general, businesses offer goods or services. Those goods or services must be delivered with some combination of fast, cheap, and accurate (pick two!). You must then be compensated. Repeat ad nauseam.
As you choose your specific goods and services and narrow your vertical, you find you must make decisions that set the path(s) you want to and even can take.
It’s well into these decisions you may find you’re stuck down a path that seems irrecoverable.
Here’s how you can make this shift in your business:
Remove ego
Identify a bottleneck
Find the base components
Rebuild
Remove ego. This is the first step. When you start to look at the static things that are no longer serving your needs, you must first eliminate ego. It might be your ego (maybe like me you built the item in question). It might be the ego of another employee. It might be the ego of the company’s reputation. Whatever the ego is, first recognize that these things may be holding you back, and you cannot move on until they’re addressed. Then:
Identify a bottleneck. Just one. Maybe it’s new product offerings. Do you keep missing the mark? Maybe it’s collections. It could be your scheduling or ticketing system. Whatever it is, identify a single bottleneck.
Find the base components. Having identified your bottleneck, work to understand why the bottleneck is happening. As you do, don’t just identify symptoms. This is what most people do and why most people fail to actually solve problems. They say, “Ah, scheduling is a problem because we don’t have a scheduling tool. Let’s go buy a plug-and-play point solution to treat this symptom!” But, is scheduling the problem? Or is it a symptom of the fact that your teams don’t have an understanding of how long their work takes? Is the problem scheduling people to do the work, or scheduling the right expertise? If the problem is scheduling people with the right expertise, how are you documenting expertise? If it’s a person’s head, no system will ever help you.
This is why you must pick only a single bottleneck, too. As you work to uncover real problems, not just symptoms, you’ll wind up with a bigger project than you anticipated! Do this exercise and spend time with it. This is where you can really make a difference when you commit to how you’re going to:
Rebuild. Rebuilding is tough. No one wants to start over. But the good news is, you may not have to start over. Rebuilding can simply mean adding the right new things.
In cases where you do have to start over, focus on the outcome.
When you focus on the outcome after having done the work of understanding the components, you end up with something much more flexible and sustainable.
The fifth step?
Repeat.
This process must be repeated often.
An Example to Make this Real
I worked with someone who created a payment system. For simplicity, let’s say they had 3 ways to pay employees:
Hours worked
Custom Percentage
Flat rate
As times changed, people wanted more and more ways to pay their employees. I was told many times, “I can’t come up with every way in which people want to pay their employees.” The ask, however, wasn’t that they had to come up with every scenario. They just had to understand the components used to calculate that pay.
“It’s your data, use it how you need it!” is the mindset I tried to convey.
They spent the time to understand the components their customers used to pay. Then, they created a system that allowed the customer to control which inputs created their custom outputs.
Another example?
Calculators. Calculators don’t come pre-programmed with the answer to every problem. They do, however, have the components necessary to perform (almost) any calculations you can think of.
What specialized processes (machines) have you built in your business, instead of just using a calculator?
I hope these stories and steps help you. Apply them to your business. The Healthy Company Framework is another example of flexible, and infinitely scalable, framework that can handle any input your business has. If you feel like your company has grown beyond your grasp and you’re looking for a way to get everyone back on the same page, let us know.
We can help.
Calculators don’t have to have every answer to every problem. They just need the components necessary to perform the calculations you can think of.