Process friction is, simply put, the accumulated negative effect towards achieving a goal due to rules, tribal knowledge, stovepipes, and ignorance. Process friction makes completing a task much more difficult than your intuition allows; the nagging feeling of being held back feeds frustration in even the most resilient people. Identifying key processes and drilling down into the major steps tends to put comfortable people on edge - what are "They" questioning and is my job being threatened are not unreasonable reactions.
The best literature on process friction comes from the online marketing and web sales folks. They understand that any online process which takes too many keystrokes and mouse clicks will drive page views elsewhere.
A good starting point to understand the issue comes from Payson Hall.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
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