Staple Yourself To Something
Staple Yourself To Something helps teams visualize and understand a process by following a specific object through its lifecycle. This method creates a shared, visual narrative of the process, highlighting areas for improvement and education.
Use this method when a team needs to document a process, simplify an overly complex process, or identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies in their workflow.
Solves: Lack of documented processes, overly complex processes, unclear roles and responsibilities, process inefficiencies.
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Step 1: Introduce the exercise and define the 'object' to be tracked (e.g., a product, a ticket, an idea). (5 minutes)
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Step 2: Write down the agreed-upon start and end points of the process on a whiteboard. (5 minutes)
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Step 3: Brainstorm and list the major steps involved in the process between the start and end points. (15 minutes)
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Step 4: Prioritize and refine the list of steps, aiming for approximately seven key steps for a high-level overview. (10 minutes)
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Step 5: Determine the vital information to capture for each step (e.g., people involved, actions taken, time elapsed). (10 minutes)
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Step 6: Collaboratively draw the process flow, visually representing each step and capturing the relevant information. Use stick figures, arrows, and concise notes. (45-60 minutes)
- Encourage visual representation over lengthy descriptions.
- Actively manage the flow to prevent branching into unrelated topics; note these for later discussion.
- Use a 'ticking clock' to simulate time constraints and maintain momentum.
- Focus on a specific problem area within the process.
- Use different colored markers to represent different types of information (e.g., people, systems, data).