Why an Engineer Should Work on your Business Processes

I was recently having a drink with a group of ethicists at a solstice party (it sounds like the setup to a joke, but it’s actually true). One topic of conversation was a popular podcast about an unqualified surgeon who managed to continue to practice despite a very problematic track record.

My two cents, which seemed to resonate with the local representatives of the ethics community, was:

“You have to design your systems under the assumption that such a person will exist at some point.”

When organizations are designing or updating their business processes, it is often done under the assumption of best intentions and a bias toward compliance, perhaps with some allowance of human error. It’s natural to have the people currently working in your organization in mind as you imagine how workflow and governance will operate.

But, of course, turnover happens. As new folks with completely different ideas, motivations, and natural tendencies replace those who move on, over time you find that systems that worked with the old team aren’t continuing to work with the new one - even if you never have the misfortune to work with a truly bad actor.

The framing that an engineer brings to this activity is one of risk-based thinking. Like any part of a system, the human elements will make the wrong move at some point. That means that it’s important to think ahead by assuming that the missteps that can happen, will happen, and and designing in the right checks to make sure you achieve the results you’re after anyway.

Want to put the engineering lens on your key business processes so you can keep moving forward no matter who’s driving? Let’s have a conversation!