Legend has it that when The Ohio State University built its campus, there were no footpaths.
Instead, they waited a year or so and let students carve dirt paths into the grass, showing where they naturally walked.
Then they paved those paths.
This is called desire path planning and it’s used in urban design to reflect how people actually move – not how a planner in an office imagines they should.
I think about this a lot when it comes to organisational procedures.
Too often, procedures are designed in an office by people who are disconnected from the work. What might look neat and tidy on paper rarely translates into what the people doing the work actually need.
Instead, there’s something to be said then for allowing capable people to use their smarts and creativity to figure out the best way to do a task (while meeting the organisation’s goals on quality, safety and cost).
Then watch what they do and see how the work actually gets done. And build the procedure around that.
You might still need adjustments to meet certain organisational constraints. But at least you’re starting with what works for the people doing the work – not fixating on what looks tidy on a piece of paper.
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