Rich Pictures
A useful way to start a high level analysis is to identify players in the process. A quick and simple method is to use Rich Pictures - example below shows the players and the key interactions between them for the following simple tea-making scenario:
- Hostess asks who would like a cup of tea
- Visitors signify whether they want a cup
- Host is sent to put kettle on
- Hostess gathers information on preferences for sugar and milk
- Hostess gets sugar and milk ready
- Host brews and pours tea
- Hostess puts mugs on tray
- Host carries tray back to visitors and hands out mugs
Rich Pictures can help to identify open loops or redundant checking at an early stage, major issues will show up relatively easily. You should be wary - as with all the tools outlined here - of 'paralysis by analysis', don't get too bogged down in the detail when using this high-level method. It can be a useful tool to compare the differences before and after process review.
A variant on the theme of Rich Pictures is this map produced by Professor Gilly Salmon to help understand the perspectives of different stakeholders involved in implementing an institutional e-learning strategy.
The map does not claim to be complete and is very much of its time (hence the reference to the dot.com marshes and the fact that the Temple of Pedagogy should perhaps be renamed the Temple of Student Learning). It does however provide a useful tool for exploring different perspectives and the drivers behind them. Professor Salmon recognises that most of us probably spend our time on Crafters Plain where the work is hard and the distances are long.
