While reading the material for this class, I could not help but wonder why we (my team and I at work) were not using these valuable process improvement tools? I have heard of most of them. I have taken project management classes before. However, when thinking about my job, we are kind of stuck in this pattern of “doing things the way we’ve always done them”. But doing things this way may not cut it anymore. As we continue to take on more projects, more commitment, more responsibility it is time to take advantage of these processes and procedures. I can already tell that using the RACI chart will be helpful in organizing a clear chain of responsibility for what we call ad hoc projects. I work on a web site so these projects are not huge by any means and typically do not involve a budget. What they do involve is our web team of four. It involves other teams of content experts. It involves a development team. And overall, a broader digital strategy team that we report up to. The RACI chart will be extremely helpful for organizing who is responsible for what as we continue to take on tasks and projects.
Another tool that really intrigues me is the 5 whys method of getting to the source of a problem. I have not heard of this one before this semester’s reading. As simple as it sounds, I will be using this at work as soon as possible. Working on a web site, problems arise all the time with technology, communication, and content. I will begin to use this method on repetitive problems to get to the source of the issue to put a counter measure in place. For practice, I started my first one for an earlier class post.
As a manager of the web site, I created a checklist of the following tools and methods to provide a better process for our team and a better experience for our own clients within the company. I would recommend teams create a checklist of tools and processes that work for them. While this applies specifically to my situation, can you think of any actions that I am missing? Will you be creating a checklist? One thing I am certain of is that this checklist will be refined as my processes improve over time.
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