Digitising a process: where do you start?
The biggest mistake is digitising the existing process as it stands, including the steps that only existed because everything was on paper.
Map what actually happens first
Not what should happen. Follow one real case from start to finish and note every step, including the ones written down nowhere.
Look for the waiting
Lost time rarely sits in the actions and almost always between them: a document waiting for a signature, an email waiting for a reply.
Remove before you automate
An unnecessary step automated is still an unnecessary step, only faster. Ask of each step what would happen if it disappeared.
Digitise in pieces
A whole process at once fails more often than it succeeds. Start with the most painful and most self-contained step.
Measure the outcome
Total process duration, not the number of screens. That is the only figure the people doing the work care about.
