David W. McCoyThis past weekend, I willingly participated in one of the most painful processes on the planet – I went looking at new cars. The weather was warm, my Saturday meeting was boring, and I was near car heaven. So, I went looking. Man, do I hate the car looking-testing-sniffing-buying process. Even though most of the salesmen I met were nicer than usual, the whole “Hi! Can I interest you in X” dance just makes me want to go shower with lye soap. It’s no wonder I drive an old 1998 auto – one that I’ll drive until the gas pumps run dry and pine-scented air freshener is outlawed. I just don’t like the car buying process enough to do it more than once a decade.
As an exercise, write down the five processes that you hate the most. Then annotate the top three reasons that you hate each process. Here’s mine to kick it off:
PROCESS: Car Browsing/Buying Process
- Why I hate it #1 – It feels like a game where I’m a pawn, the dealership has all the bishops, and I can’t remember how en passant works.
- Why I hate it #2 – It feels unfair, even when I have Edmunds.com’s prices and negotiating points memorized.
- Why I hate it #3 – It feels random, as if reality is somehow distorted by the excess presence of bad haircuts and drug store cologne.
Why go through this effort? First, this list-making exercise is highly therapeutic – ask any licensed psychologist. Second, it makes you assess your own process ethics. For instance, if you see my list and say, “Hey! Those are good process attributes for a seller-buyer relationship,” then you view processes as weapons, and you are obviously not “the buyer.” I view processes as social interactions. It’s nice to know where we each stand. Third, a list like this will make you pay more attention to your own process design criteria. If you don’t like it, then don’t do it to someone else.
So, maybe I’ll buy a car in 2010 or so. First, I have to let my skin heal. Lye soap really burns.
Category: Business Process Management (BPM) Philosophy Rabble-Rousing and General Hoopla Tags: Business Process Management (BPM), David McCoy, Gartner, Philosophy
2 responses so far ↓
1 Roeland Loggen March 24, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Hmm, interesting challenge.
Ok, attempt nr 1:
Process: Buying clothes
Why I hate it 1:
Stores are spread over town, and require walking. When in store 1, you wonder if there is better stuff in store N. When in store N, you understand store 1 stuff was better,
Why I hate it 2:
Stores are filled with clothes, you have to go through them, and hope to find something you like, in a sort of “don’t know what I want, but I hope to know it when I see it”. What a time filler and energy drainer! (But I am sure that will be people that actually like this…)
Why I hate it 3:
Well, probably my own incompetence: I usually have no clue what’s cool/in or out at this time, and what will fit together, so end up buying things I already have or that don’t mix & match.
Reflections:
- Put stores close together (this is europe, Malls are not cool…)
- Have some feature (helpful salesperson or computer?) in stores that quickly organize “if you like this, you might like that….” and “this will nicely go with …..”
Roeland Loggen
2 Ken March 25, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Hello,
If lye soap is made properly, it is the most wonderful thing you can do to your skin, bar none. Yep, pun was intended there. 
Interesting and delightful read, thanks. I appreciate your analogy using lye soap. You must have used ole Granny Clampett’s soap.
Seriously, Thanks for the read!
Ken
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