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Before you hire, map the process

Work is backing up. Your team is stretched. The obvious answer is to hire someone.

Sometimes that is right. But before you post the job, spend an hour on a different question. Why does this work take so many hands?

Start with the work, not the person

When a team is overloaded, it is easy to see it as a people problem. We need more people. But often the load comes from how the work is done, not how much of it there is.

A person who spends the day copying numbers from one screen to another is not short on skill. They are doing a job that software could do. Adding a second person to do the same copying doubles the cost and keeps the problem.

How to map a process

You do not need special tools. A whiteboard or a sheet of paper will do.

1. Pick one process. Choose the one that causes the most pain. Orders, quotes, scheduling, reporting.
2. Write down every step. From the moment the work arrives to the moment it is done. Include the small things, like "check the email" or "look up the customer in the spreadsheet."
3. Ask the people who do it. The owner's view of a process is often different from the real one. The person doing the work knows the workarounds.
4. Mark who touches each step. Note where work moves from one person to another. Hand-offs are where delays hide.
5. Note the time and the tools. Which systems are open at each step? Where does someone re-type information?

What to look for

Once the map is on the page, certain patterns stand out. These are the signs that work is a candidate for automation.

• Re-typing. The same information entered in more than one place.
• Copy and paste between systems. A sign that two tools should be connected.
• Rules applied by hand. "If it is over this size, do that." Rules can be written down. Software can follow them.
• Waiting. Work sits until someone is free to move it along.
• Checking for errors. Someone reviews work only because mistakes are common.
• Reports built by hand. The same report assembled again each week.
• One person who knows how. If a task lives in one head, it is fragile.

What to leave alone

Not everything should be automated. Some work needs judgment, conversation or a human touch. Customer relationships. Unusual exceptions. Decisions with real trade-offs.

A good test: if a smart new hire could follow a clear checklist to do the task, software probably can too. If the task depends on reading the room, keep a person on it.

Then decide

With a map in hand, you have three honest options.

1. Change the process. Sometimes a step is not needed at all. Remove it.
2. Automate the steps that are repeated. Keep your people on the work that needs them.
3. Hire. If the process is sound and the volume really is too high for the team, hiring is the right call.

The point is not to avoid hiring. The point is to hire for the right reason. A new person should add judgment and capacity to good work, not absorb the cost of a slow process.

A small first step

This week, pick one process and map it. Show the map to the people who do the work and ask them what they would change. Their answers will tell you more than any report.

If you find steps that look like they should be automated and you are not sure how, that is a good moment to talk to us. Describe the process, and we will tell you honestly whether software is the right answer.