2: Plan for Execution

To paraphrase Ben Franklin, "if you fail to plan you are planning to fail." The following are not plans:


Performance maps are simple, clear and executable. Creating maps is hard, disciplined work. Consequently, the heart of ProCarta is a visual process designer that creates a simplified hierarchy of processes activities and tasks, to support the chosen function. Teams collaborate to harvest procedural knowledge, ensure clarity and link supporting information such as tools, templates and roles etc. to the hierarchy.

The benefit is that performance is built into the plan as opposed to being stuffed into people. Organizations are no longer hostage to the heroic efforts of a few highly talented individuals. Ordinary people, performing as a team, will outperform the heroic efforts of a few talented people over time.

Combined, the plans create a "business genome", the knowledge base of an organization, the components of which can be reassembled to create new plans to meet new needs.

The simplified process hierarchy is seen below.

Michael Porter on Re-engineering

The literature on re-engineering employs the term processes. Sometimes it is a synonym for activities. Sometimes it refers to activities or sets of activities that cut across organizational units. In any case, however, the essential notion is the same-both strategic and operational issues are best understood at the activity level.