Improve processes effectively

Process improvement in Tallyfy

Tallyfy provides tools for ongoing process improvement through team feedback, analytics, and instant template updates.

Collect improvement ideas from teams

Team members doing daily tasks provide valuable improvement insights:

• Improvement comments: Use Tallyfy’s built-in comments to get ideas directly within specific process steps.
• Structured feedback: Add feedback steps at the end of processes to regularly collect suggestions.
• Anonymous submissions: Consider allowing anonymous feedback for more honest input.
• Idea voting: Let team members upvote suggestions they like.

Using contextual feedback

Tallyfy’s comments let team members suggest improvements directly on specific tasks. This provides context on where and how processes can be improved, better than general feedback.

Use customer feedback for improvements

• Customer satisfaction surveys: Collect feedback at key points in the customer journey.
• Service quality metrics: Track numbers like Net Promoter Score (NPS) or Customer Effort Score (CES).
• Support ticket analysis: Look for patterns in customer issues that point to process problems.
• Direct customer interviews: Talk to key customers about their experiences.

When looking at customer feedback, focus on finding the root causes in the process. For example, late deliveries might signal issues in scheduling or fulfillment processes.

Find bottlenecks with analytics

• Process duration analysis: Use Tallyfy Analytics to see which steps take longer than planned.
• Bottleneck identification: Find steps where work often gets stuck or delayed.
• Completion rate tracking: Monitor processes with low completion or high drop-off rates.
• Assignment analysis: Identify overloaded team members who might be slowing things down.

Tallyfy’s analytics features show how processes are performing, helping you find exact areas to improve.

Communicate the purpose of changes

• Clearly state the problem: Define the issue the process change is meant to fix.
• Explain the impact: Communicate how the current process affects customers, team members, or results.
• Share the vision: Describe how the improved process will lead to better outcomes.
• Connect to values: Link the change to company values or strategic goals.

As noted by experts like John Kotter, creating urgency and a clear vision are key first steps.

Change management basics

When changing processes, consider using frameworks like Kotter’s 8-Step Model or ADKAR (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement). These structured methods can increase the chances of success.

Deploy changes instantly

Tallyfy’s template system supports making improvements step-by-step:

• Immediate updates: Changes to templates apply instantly; no complex versioning.
• Updates go live instantly: The next process launched automatically uses the newest template version.
• Continuous improvement: Make small changes anytime without scheduled update windows.
• Simplified management: Avoid managing many different versions of the same process.

Make incremental improvements

• Start small: Focus on minor improvements instead of huge overhauls.
• Compound benefits: Small improvements build on each other, creating big results over time.
• Reduce resistance: Smaller changes usually face less pushback.
• Learn continuously: Use each small change as a chance to learn for future improvements.

As James Clear writes in “Atomic Habits,” small improvements add up significantly: getting 1% better daily leads to being 37 times better in a year. This applies to process improvement too.

Process improvement vs automation

• Process improvement: Making human tasks better by removing wasted effort, clarifying steps, or simplifying.
• Process automation: Taking people out of the loop entirely using tools like Robotic Process Automation (RPA) or API integrations.
• Hybrid approaches: Automating routine parts while improving the steps still done by people.

When looking at a process step, ask these questions to decide the best way forward:

1. Can we eliminate this step completely?
2. If not, can we automate it with technology?
3. If people must do it, how can we make the step more efficient and less prone to errors?

Identifying automation candidates

Good steps to consider for full automation usually are:

• Based on clear rules with specific criteria.
• Done very often or in large volumes.
• Repetitive with little variation.
• Don’t require much judgment.
• Use structured data (clear inputs and outputs).

Measure customer impact

• Customer journey mapping: See how process changes affect the customer’s overall experience.
• Outcome metrics: Track customer-focused numbers like satisfaction, retention, or referrals.
• Value stream analysis: Check how changes affect activities that create customer value.
• Customer feedback loops: Ask customers for feedback specifically about process changes.

Structured improvement methods

• Lean: Focus on removing wasted effort and maximizing value.
• Six Sigma: Reduce differences and errors using data analysis.
• Kaizen: Focus on small, ongoing improvements.
• PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act): Test changes in small batches before rolling them out fully.

Many organizations mix elements from different methods.

Document improvements

• Update process documentation: Make sure Tallyfy templates reflect the improved processes.
• Record lessons learned: Write down what worked, what didn’t, and why.
• Share success stories: Tell others in the company about improvements and their results.
• Create improvement patterns: Identify successful approaches that could work for other processes.

Balance standardization with flexibility

• Standardize the core: Make the main parts of a process standard to ensure quality and compliance.
• Allow contextual variation: Give teams flexibility to adapt to unique situations where appropriate.
• Define decision parameters: Clarify where judgment is okay and where standards must be followed strictly.
• Review exceptions: Monitor when standard processes are bypassed to find opportunities for improvement.

Additional improvement strategies

• Process mining: Use special tools to find out how processes actually run based on system data.
• Cross-functional teams: Get input from different people when designing improvements.
• Pilot testing: Test big changes on a small scale before full rollout.
• Regular review cycles: Schedule regular process reviews instead of waiting for problems.
• Training and communication: Make sure teams understand and can perform improved processes.
• Recognition programs: Acknowledge team members who suggest good improvements.

Related articles

Process Improvement > What is process improvement?

Process improvement is a systematic approach to analyzing and enhancing current workflows to increase efficiency reduce errors improve customer satisfaction lower costs boost employee morale and strengthen competitive advantage through tools like Tallyfy that make processes visible trackable and easily modifiable.

How To > Process improvement

Process improvement focuses on systematically enhancing business workflows to boost efficiency customer satisfaction and competitive advantage through methodologies like DMAIC Lean and Kaizen while leveraging tools like Tallyfy for documentation automation and continuous optimization.

Process Improvement > Gather data and use Tallyfy Analytics

Data and analytics replace guesswork in process improvement by providing objective evidence to identify real problems establish performance baselines pinpoint bottlenecks and measure the impact of changes while tools like Tallyfy Analytics automatically capture workflow data including task completion times process duration and bottlenecks to enable proactive optimization through visualization and regular review.

Process Improvement > Build a culture of continuous improvement

Building a continuous improvement culture requires leadership commitment employee empowerment open communication learning from experiences celebrating progress standardized processes and data-driven decisions with Tallyfy providing the platform to enable bottom-up suggestions transparency stable baselines analytics rapid iteration and lowered barriers to process ownership.