Why you track your life, but not your processes?
Have you ever paused to consider just how much your smartphone knows about your life? It’s like a digital diary, filled with answers to questions you didn’t even realize you were asking. Think about it:
How much sleep did you get last night? (Health App)
What was your last Starbucks order? (Loyalty App)
When was your last grocery trip, and how much did you spend? (Bank App)
Who was the last friend to go on vacation? (Instagram/Facebook)
You could even go further: Which stores did you visit six Sundays ago? How much time did you spend there? The answers are all there, at your fingertips.
The good news? This kind of visibility isn’t limited to your personal life. It’s available at work too—and it’s just as transformative.
How Processes Leave Breadcrumbs
Every action in a modern system creates a trail. From the moment someone sends an email, updates stock, pays an invoice, or approves a request, the system records a timestamp. These are the breadcrumbs of your processes, creating a story of what happened, when, and who was involved.
Much like reviewing your travel history on Google Maps, these digital footprints can be pieced together to show the end-to-end journey of a process. It’s not just data—it’s insight into how things truly work.
The Power of Process Playbacks
One of the best ways to align teams and uncover actionable insights is through a process playback—a dynamic walkthrough of the actual data behind your processes. Instead of relying on sticky notes or vague recollections, you use real, undeniable evidence.
Imagine getting all the key players in a room and seeing:
The paths processes take, from start to finish.
Where things slow down or go wrong.
Who owns each step and how service levels stack up.
How these processes connect to daily work and larger goals.
Instead of endless workshops to collect input, the playback brings the process to life right away. Stakeholders spend less time guessing and more time discussing what matters—actions and solutions.
Our Approach: Beyond Traditional Mapping
Traditional process mapping takes time, sticky notes, and guesswork. We take a different route:
Start with a Subway Map: A clear, data-driven view of your process, including cycle times, paths, and common variations.
Layer in Perspectives: View the process from different angles—what it looks like to a customer, or how a part flows through production.
Highlight Conformance and ‘Unhappy Paths’: Pinpoint where standards aren’t followed and where things go off track.
Keep it Dynamic: This isn’t a one-time snapshot. Process playbacks can be revisited regularly to track improvements and adjust strategies.
The Value of Real-Time Insight
The magic of these playbacks is how they shift the conversation from what happened to what’s next. As you make changes, you can return to the playback to see how your KPIs are evolving, whether bottlenecks are shrinking, and where to focus next. It’s a continuous feedback loop, driving improvement and alignment.
Takeaway
Processes are just like your life’s digital footprint—they leave a story behind, waiting to be uncovered. By using process playbacks, you turn those stories into opportunities for alignment, improvement, and transformation. With the right tools and mindset, you can not only see where things are stuck but also take action to make them flow better than ever. And the best part? The insights are always there, ready when you are.
