PROFESSIONALS vs. Amateurs
- Marty Schad
- Jun 13, 2019
- 3 min read
Why are some people thought of as the “go to” person when a completely new process needs to be developed (or an existing process needs to be dramatically improved)? Many things are probably at play including previous track record; availability; reputation, and so forth.
However, I also like to think about the mindset of the person building the process.
Process builders can be either amateurs or professionals. The two mindsets are very different, as shown in the following (admittedly incomplete) table.
Process Builders: Differences Between Amateurs and Professionals
Amateurs
Don’t document their findings.
Do the projects assigned by their boss.
Wait for others to stop their projects.
Don’t like working with and visiting production operations.
Do obvious calculations or the ones the boss asks for.
Take the work product from research without questioning.
View process engineering as a 9-to-5 job.
Conduct non-designed experiments, aka dabbling.
Ignore business considerations.
Stop when things get difficult.
Use the equipment on hand.
Work with whoever is assigned or available.
Approach each project on a one-off basis.
Use the materials that purchasing specifies, unquestioningly.
Have no structured design methods or thinking.
Think they can do things on their own.
Are indifferent about production impact.
Think “that is someone else’s department”.
Do not rigorously evaluate their processes.
Are unconcerned that the process is invisible.
Professionals
Document and archive and present findings.
Propose projects, find and start their own projects.
Have the courage to recommend stopping their projects.
Enjoy production projects and have first-hand production experience.
Calculate things to feed curiosity and deepen learning.
Respect the researchers, but, hold them accountable.
View process engineering as a craft and are always striving to improve.
Use statistically designed experiments to build reliable models of process behavior.
Understand business considerations and use them as leverage and motivation.
Stop when things will not work and they know why and they have no clever workarounds.
Are key players and stakeholders in the iteration and design of the equipment.
Put together the best team possible.
Create systems and approaches to minimize risk and improve the odds of success.
Determine what the process needs, then work with purchasing to get it.
Use Axiomatic Analysis or another applicable design framework to probe and analyze the design.
Enlist supporters and champions who can provide support and guidance.
Care deeply about getting processes into production.
Want to fix real customer problems.
Ruthlessly evaluate their process with no “sugar-coating”, particularly at the pilot-scale stage.
Actively try to make the process as visible and explicit as possible.
I have always strived to be the best process builder that I could be, and to do more complex projects better over time. This is not to say that I am always operating completely in the professional column, but I certainly strive to do that.
My main learning from this is that there is a mindset and seriousness of purpose that “professional” process builders have. They have seen the cost and pain of non-robust processes first-hand. They have built clever and robust processes that have significantly contributed to the bottom-line. They know the stakes involved and want to do whatever they can to continually improve and stack the odds in their favor.
CHALLENGE TO READERS
Think/reflect about yourself, your process engineering organization, and your colleagues…
Who are the professional process builders in your organization? What dollar impact have they had over their tenure? What has their ROI been?
How can the mindset of your professional process builders be leveraged? Can they mentor others or create a best practices document?
The topic of the amateur versus the professional mindset fascinates me; it has so many layers and can be applied to many other situations. Please call me (508-410-8081) so we can compare notes and learnings.
If you send us an email, we will get back to you promptly, thanks.
All the Best,
Marty
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