Using process thinking to define project scope: how to start in the right place

Using Process Thinking to Define
Project Scope: How to Start in the Right
Place
Highlights and Q&A - NYBPP Meetup
10.16.2018 | CAVI CONSULTING

Samuel Chin
Samuel is the co-founder and chief process scientist for Cavi Consulting, a process
science consultancy helping businesses to remove obstacles to energy flow and
more effectively automate, scale and grow.
Experience
Samuel has consulted for small-to-enterprise level companies across a wide range of
sectors and verticals, including financial services, resources, legal services, media
and digital services, in both the for profit and nonprofit domains.
Education and Certifications
Samuel holds an MBA from the University of Richmond, and a B.A. from the
University of Virginia.
Samuel is certified in Lean, Six Sigma, Change Management (PROSCI), Project
Management (PMP and CSM), and is a CMMI associate.

Agenda
● Project
○ Defining project in process terms
● Problem Analysis
○ Where do we start?
● Process Scoping
● Process Capture
● Detail Levels
● Summary
● Q/A
○ Are audits considered project processes?
○ Is the “transition state” affected by how long a project is?
○ How do we know the right detail layer to document a process?

What is Project?
● A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.
○ Temporary means having a definite beginning and end.
● The end is reached when the project’s objectives have been achieved, or if the project is
terminated for any reason.
● Each project creates a unique product, service or result.
○ NOTE that there may be some repetitive elements present in each project, but the
output must be unique – like similar housing projects in the same area with the same
design may be similar, but each will have unique challenges, different contractors,
issues, etc. that will make them each unique.

● Project energy flow is the “experimentation” mode of businesses, the
changing process in nature and the thinking flow in humans. Since
businesses operate in a dynamic environment that is constantly
creating new contexts for success. To remain viable in a constantly
evolving market environment, the business cannot simply maintain
its operating (or “knowing/doing”) process as-is, it must also “think”
in order to evolve its process by adding new process elements
○ Ex. To increase user adoption and retention, Uber reduced the
number of steps the user takes in the app to order a car for
pickup
● Operating energy flow is the “on” mode of businesses, the doing flow
in nature, and the knowing flow in humans. This flow represents the
beating heart of the business. It is what transforms most of the energy
it receives (ex. money) into value (product or services clients want)
○ Ex. Uber receives money (energy) from it’s customers so that it
can produce a service (value) of getting one from A to B
Business Energy Flow
The universe has two types of energy flow through
business: Projects and Operations
Businesses
evolve, or
improve their
operations by
conducting
projects
Businesses survive in
the market by
continuously
producing value
(product or service)
that customers want
(of who give the
business energy in
the form of money)

Separating for Success
● Projects create change
● Operations are constantly improving to
create value
● Know what you’re trying to do and take
care not to do both at the same time!
● The functions must be kept separate as
there are different motivations and
conflicting interests involved

Where Do We Start: Problem Analysis
Where does project energy come from? from problems.
● Without problems, there is no constant energy, and the project will eventually die (unless you
muscle it through with your own energy, which leads to burnout).
● A real problem will generate energy and you can then build a good objective around it.
● As the objective is closer to completion, the energy that drives the project should lessen, until the
project is complete and there is no more energy (or problem!).
.

Using process thinking to define project scope: how to start in the right place

Process Scoping - Establishing “The Forest”
Basic Business Information
Business name (DBA)
Business focus/industry
Primary Business Objective or Problem Area
Business website (if applicable)
Please estimate your expected total annual revenue this year - If unsure, please provide total
annual revenue from previous year
Please estimate your expected net profit % this year - If unsure, please provide net profit %
from previous year
Please estimate your current employee headcount. Include sum of part-time, temp,
contractor, unpaid, etc (1 employee count = ~2000 man hours / year)
How old is your business (in years)?
What is your current ownership structure? (Single Owner, Partnership, Corporation, etc)
Is your business a public or private company?
Is your business a for-profit or non-profit company?
On each line, name and briefly describe your core revenue streams (i.e. distinct products or
services that collectively account for the majority (80%+) of revenue generation), as well as
the estimated % that each contribute to total revenue generation
0%
0%
0%
0%

Process Scoping
This conversation logic is focused on identifying and organizing the process activities of a person, not the
activities that comprise a process from end-to-end in sequence. It is a person/role-centric conversation,
not a process driven one.
The flow of this conversation is meant to cast a wide net over all of the activities that comprise a person’s
role, organize the activities into categories, and then assign a percentage of time in an average week or
month that the activities demand of all the person’s working hours available in a week.
The conversation usually flows in two phases:
1. High level role descriptions and activity identification
2. Assign % time to and group & categorize activities

● Projects change the process in the operating layer and must be process centric to be successful
● Which part of the process is determined by properly identifying the root cause problem the project intends
to address
● Process scoping established the entire process context from which you can more specifically understand
which process will be impacted
● Process capture details which section of the process will be affected in detail enough to act on it
● Detail layers (Starting from high to granular) is how you iteratively capture the right level of information
around the process section of interest and make sure your process is on track for success!
Summary

Q&A
Answering questions from the meetup

Question 1: Are audits
considered project
processes?
● It depends! If it is a one-off audit for a
specific purpose, then it could be a project.
If it is an audit that happens on a recurring
basis, it could be an operation
The difference between projects and operations is
largely in how similar the process is and whether
or not it repeats itself at a reliable frequency

Question 2: Is the
“transition state” affected
by how long a project is?
● Yes! Transition state energy is a
requirement to get through the
enablement part of a project. The longer
the phase is, the more energy dispersal
happens over the course of the transition
phase. The shorter the project is, the more
likely the energy is condensed enough to
get through the transition.

Question 3: How do we
know the right detail
layer to document a
process?
● Detail layer selection is arbitrary and
should be selected to best capture the
process elements that are hypothesized to
be creating the problem which is the focus
of the project.

Thanks for coming!
● NYBPP Meetup:
○ Please leave us a positive review!
● You can view all of our past slides over on
Slideshare.net:
○ Slide Decks from Past Meetups
● Also, join our Facebook Group!
○ https://NYBPP Meetup Facebook
Group
● Finally, check out more process insights at:
○ www.caviconsulting.com

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