Definition isn’t done well….. What you’ll see:

• Staff resists using the guidance in the standard processes that have been defined
• Mother of all process manuals” sits on the real (or virtual!) shelf
• Lots of time being spent getting process waivers
• Extreme amount of tailoring requested by each project.

Why Should You Care? Because…

• Since defining processes is an overhead task, defining processes that can’t be used/cause lots of work to “get around” is a direct waste of profit
• Using processes that are ineffective can cause many of the other symptoms we’ve discussed
• Staff who lack confidence in the organization’s ability to provide useful guidance will probably look elsewhere for jobs
• Lots of tailoring leads to less and less reuse of process knowledge and skills, thus reducing your Return on Investment (ROI) in process definition activities.