Procedural/Process Origami; Why Going Back to the Fundamentals is Necessary

 I’m no magician, however I can turn a widget into Origami, and here’s how:

Imagine I am a new employee at your business.  I am employee A.  I am attending training for a new piece of equipment that will revolutionize my job.  It is called the widget.  I will attend training on this all week.  When complete, I will have a thorough understanding of the widget, including everything from how it is made, the specs of it, and how to use it.  I will have all of the necessary information to perform my job with efficiency.  Over the next few months and years, I learn that the rectangular widget is still very useful, even with a corner broken off.

As I continue to do well in my job, I get a new employee (employee B) to come take my spot as I move on to bigger and better things.  As I turnover my work to employee B, I show him/her the widget.   Employee B has never seen one before.  I explain everything, and leave them, knowing they understood that I told them everything about the widget.  Employee B has accepted my information as truth.

Even though the widget is missing a corner, employee B knows this to be a rectangular widget.  As this person decides to remodel the office, employee B cuts another corner of the widget.  Months or years later, a new employee comes in to take over.  This is employee C.  Same routine; same result.  Employee C believes this widget to be a rectangular widget.  Another remodel, another corner cut. 

This goes on and on until employee Z.  Now the widget has been so altered it is an Origami Swan, but employee Z is still told it is a rectangular widget.

This is what happens to processes and procedures that have been used over time.  People cut corners and explore what they can get away with.  The problem becomes, how many corners can be cut before we become unsafe?  Before we fall behind schedule?  Before costs skyrocket?

If the person cutting corners doesn’t understand the fundamentals first, the next cut may be detrimental. Imagine you are steps away from the edge of a cliff, and I have blindfolded you. Your starting point is the basics, and every step away from the basics could be a detrimental last step. The first corner cut in a process or procedure may be understood well due to a thorough understanding of the basics, but as time goes on that understanding gets blurred and each cut thereafter can become critical.