Have you ever asked directions from a stranger, only to find that you forgot the very first item by the end of their explanation? Have you ever asked someone to give you a recipe, and then wish you’d written it down? Some things are better kept simple and broken into easy steps.
Like riding a bicycle?
On a recent holiday to Sardinia, I realised that – after a break of 25 years – some elements of dinghy sailing did not come back to me instantaneously. Even though I had asked the instructors for a quick reminder, they’d assured me it would all come flooding back… it didn’t! It wasn’t at all like riding a bicycle – either literally or metaphorically!
As I set off from the beach to single-hand a small dinghy, I couldn’t remember whether I pushed the tiller away to tack or to jibe. I decided that being all at sea (literally and metaphorically) was probably not conducive to getting some instructions, so with a stormy scowl on my face I muddled my way back to shore.
Sailing is actually a relatively simple series of tasks… but that day my brain was not capable of retrieving from my memory and then following those processes.
Follow the process
Any contract for a project will include a number of critical full of processes – covering payment, scheduling tasks, approvals, managing risks or costs, and resolving issues. Each process is often hard to follow in text form but would be easier to understand as a flowchart, diagram or summary (such as a quick reference guide).
According to World Commerce and Contracting, nearly 70% of businesses are prioritising improving their internal processes… but won’t be changing their contracts to match those new or revised processes.
Contracts should:
- effectively communicate what each company needs to do
- manage processes used during the project or task
- reflect any changing needs of the parties and the project (including those on process)
- be understood and operated by users.
What should you do?
You can’t change your internal processes to suit every contract that comes across your desk… so you need to check that every contract you sign is something your team can comply with.
Compliance isn’t just (or even mainly) about the law: you need to comply from a commercial, operational and technical perspective too.