“We’ve Always Done It This Way” Isn’t a Reason

There are plenty of perfectly valid reasons for a step to exist in a process.

“We’ve always done it this way” isn't one of them.

Processes rarely become inefficient overnight. They accumulate things.

A new check gets added because something went wrong once.

A spreadsheet appears because the system couldn't do something.

Someone starts sending an extra email because a manager wanted to be kept informed.

Five years later, the manager has left, the system has been replaced and nobody remembers why the spreadsheet exists.

But everyone still updates it.

That's why one of the simplest questions in process improvement is also one of the most useful:

Why do we do this?

Sometimes there's a very good answer.

Sometimes the answer is:

“I'm not actually sure.”

That's worth investigating.

It doesn't mean immediately removing the step. There could be a regulatory requirement, a control or a dependency that isn't obvious.

But if nobody can explain what value an activity adds, who needs it or what would happen if you stopped doing it, it's probably worth digging a little deeper.

Businesses change.

Their processes need to change with them.