Process Documentation Best Practice #5

#5Validate and Socialize before You Finalize.

It is uncommon to document how a process truly works with 100% accuracy on the first pass. Process Validation ensures that what we’ve documented is what is actually happening. This activity not only guarantees operational integrity but also ensures the documentation will be genuinely useful and adopted by its audience.

Validation is an opportunity to broaden participation and ownership by those who perform the work, especially if not all process performers and stakeholders participated in the workshops. Remember, people don’t resist change; they resist being changed.

For some physical processes, validation may occur via walk-throughs or direct observation to compare the draft process documentation to real-world activities. In the 21st Century, most process validation occurs by sharing work products electronically. However, another “old-fashioned way” is a great illustration of what validation and socialization looks like. This picture shows a very large process that was documented using Post-it notes and swim lanes on a conference room wall. Stakeholders were given a couple of days to come into the conference room at their convenience, review the process map, and use Post-it notes to add comments.

These comments could include questions, recommended changes, notations about process exceptions, “watch-outs,” or refinements. These validation activities both perfected the work product and made sure that every process performer had a stake in the new process standard.

Once you have achieved accuracy and buy-in, it is time to implement your “one true process.”