Just like the basic ideas of processes and the division of labor, business process modeling was born in the mechanical industry.

In the winter of 1921, Frank Gilbreth presented a paper to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers entitled “Process Charts: First Steps in Finding the One Best Way to Do Work” — an excellent title by any standards, and something that turned a lot of businesses onto the idea of modeling their processes so they can optimize them.

Gilbreth, the paper’s author, is probably better known as the author and central character of the 1950s novel Cheaper by the Dozen. While I’ve never read it, it amused me to find it that an industrial engineer-turned-management consultant wrote a novel with time and motion study as an underlying theme.

Gilbreth was an interesting character, but also a man laser-focused on exactly what processes are for: finding the one best way to do work.

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If there ever was a three-word phrase that sounded dull enough to be a sedative, it’s business process management. 

It’s probably the vagueness that’s so off-putting. Which process? Managed how? Who’s business? In the last chapter, I went deep into what a process is and then why processes are important. I’ll recap so you don’t have to skip around.

A process is “a collection of interrelated work tasks initiated in response to an event that achieves a specific result”.

But what happens if that process isn’t achieving the result, or if it’s not achieving it very effectively? Every business has goals, but the interesting part — and what business process management actually is — is the exact steps a business will take to achieve those goals.

These goals could be anything from sending a newsletter on time every week to hitting $1,000,000 in revenue. Whatever the goals, your business processes are the roadmap for getting there. Not so boring, right?

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Let’s start off with something lighter than outright, embarrassing failure…

What’s your general feeling about assembling flat-packed furniture?

After putting together a desk and a couple of chairs yesterday, I’m still irked. Every hole is drilled about half an inch wrong so you have to have some kind of vice to align the damn thing, but that’s not the main problem…

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In this episode of Business Systems Explored we speak to Kate Erickson of the fantastic Entrepreneur on Fire.

Kate’s talking to us about how her content helped propel EOFire to one of the biggest podcasts ever made, and how she’s about to do it all over again with her new blog, Kate’s Take. Kate lets us in on her marketing processes for creating high quality, actionable resources and how she makes damn well sure these resources are a perfect market fit.

Use the links below to listen to the episode, or subscribe on iTunes so you never miss out.

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Working at a startup, you can often feel like you’re lost in space — thrown into the unknown, feeling lost and confused.

It’s a strange world, and something you have to quickly adjust to if you’re going to survive. The hours are longer, the workflow is intense and the expectations are like nothing you’ll have known before.

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In this episode of Business Systems Explored, we talk to Walter Chen — the CEO and co-founder of lightweight status reporting platform, iDoneThis.

Walter lets us in on some little-known secrets, busts a number of misleading marketing myths and shares some unexpected tactics that helped him get ahead.

The episode of the Business Systems Explored podcast, you’ll learn startup marketing strategy from an experienced content marketer who — by any means necessary — pushed iDoneThis to $500k ARR. He says it’s okay for 90% of your content to fail, tell us the kinds of marketing emails you shouldn’t bother sending, and a trick he used to leverage the fanatical readership of Hacker News.

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It’s finally here.

I am excited to say that, after numerous delays, the release of our brand spankin’ new podcast, Business Systems Explored, hosted by myself (Vinay Patankar) and Tony Brown, has arrived.

HR processes are often overlooked in a company. No matter how big or small that company is, HR responsibilities are extremely important. An organization cannot build a good team of working professionals without good HR.

The key purposes of the Human Resources team include; recruiting, training, performance appraisals, motivating employees as well as workplace communication, workplace safety, employee relations, and much more.

Over at Process Street, we have created 6 HR templates to help you keep on top of your HR. These processes can be used daily, but some of them are better used less often than others. They piled with information to help you improve Human Resource processes within your company.

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The Business Process Automation Ebook That Will Save Your Work Day

The day is here and the time is now; we’re proud to announce the release of our Ultimate Guide To Business Process Automation with Zapier!

We’ve created the perfect resource to get you saving time and money by automating your business’ processes.

From basic tasks such as saving Gmail attachments into Dropbox to shipping your Salesforce leads into Mailchimp, the Ultimate Guide will guide you through setting up the perfect Zaps to automatically handle the tasks that clog up your schedule.

Plus, with Zapier’s 500+ integrated apps, chances are that your favorite programs are just waiting to be linked!

Better yet, it’s completely free!
 
 
 
 

What’s in the Ebook?

• What is Zapier – A Brief Introduction to Business Automation
• The Real Power of Zapier – Lookups, Filters and Multi-Step Zaps
• Zapier vs IFTTT: The Best Way to Automate Your Life?
• 222 Zaps You Can Start Using Right Now
• 50 Examples of Business Process Automation from the World’s Most innovative Companies

Still Not Sold?

Perhaps you’re not familiar with just how powerful this tool can be? Well then, allow us to demonstrate the power of this guide right here, right now by giving you the lowdown on some of its juiciest topics!
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In 2013, Zenefits co-founder and CEO Parker Conrad made a bold statement at TechCrunch Disrupt: “If you’re an insurance broker, we’re going to drink your milkshake.”

For a while, it seemed he would make good on this promise. Zenefits, the YC-backed free 2-in-1 HR platform and insurance broker, is championed as one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in history. Last May, the company raised $500 million in yet another funding round, bringing its total valuation up to an eye-boggling $4 billion.

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