We live in a highly competitive world, we don’t even have to point that out, right? Tech has been growing and changing at a remarkable rhythm over the last fifteen years. We are used to hearing about Continuous Improvement on processes, methodologies, and even to define different business strategies; but this isn’t something meant just to be used in a professional environment or in companies: it can be adapted to bring benefits in your personal life as well.
Nothing is a given and everything can be improved.”
The Challenge
Usually we are busy with tight timelines and compromised deadlines to deliver something that shows the worth of our work. But way too often, we don’t pause to analyze the efficiency and effectiveness of our work or the process we use to create them. The same thing happens in companies, mainly focusing on delivering and searching for increasing revenue. If you focus all your efforts on these two things, you probably lose quality or even worse, lose focus on the customer’s needs, facing the risk of delivering low-value solutions.
So, making “a pause” is the key to incorporating continuous improvement as a mindset. It will bring excellent results not only on business but also on the team members over their professional career, growing on new skills and capabilities. One way or another, improving your development cycles brings personal improvements, and both benefit the business.
Where to start? How do we change the mindset?
Well, we should say that it’s not easy at all, but it’s worth it.
Everything starts with the management team. They have to be committed to pursuing improvement as part of the company’s culture, and have to encourage people to be a part of the transformation, while being tolerant of mistakes along the way.
The transformation has to be implemented across the entire organization, and it’s critical to incorporate “devices” to challenge the status quo, which always makes us re-assess how we operate and deliver value to customers. Doing this will establish a mindset of always looking for a more efficient solution, pursuing the “extra mile.” Indeed, fear of failure will disappear, and everyone will feel comfortable because failure represents an opportunity to do it better and evolve for the future.
There is no magic recipe describing what you must follow or do to be successful. Instead, it’s a set of principles and values to follow. Remember that nothing is unchangeable or “set in stone”. Embrace challenges and persist in the face of setbacks.
Read part 2 of this article here!