The Managerial Instrument

Disclaimers:

You do realize that I'm making this all up out of thin air, right?

Introduction

Instrumentation can be used to create a standardized template for running any business. This is a block of business terms that would be used to describe the major "process points" of your endeavor. I don't know if these terms would have active electronic functions, but they would be used to control the environment.

This design uses manufacturing terminology, but every business has a product whether it is physical, mental or social. The processes described here happen everywhere. All widgets are equally created and managed. Only the buzz words change to occlude the guilty.

This design uses the following eight Types:

Enterprise Leadership proficiencies:

Process Creation

This is the management of management. This is where business processes are created and maintained. If you think this is just bureaucratic busy work, you don't belong in management. This is the difference between running a business and just chasing the competition.

I know that there are times when existing processes aren't enough, but this is the place where existing processes should be made relevant. A business process is a crutch, not a straight jacket. If you can't describe your job clearly and easily, you aren't doing it right.

ISO9000 (or equivalent) is a subset of this Type.

Advertising / Sales

They aren't evil, they're just misused. If you don't sell, you don't survive. Telling the world about your products isn't a crime as long as you are honest and polite.

This is your communication and business interface with the world. Information and products go out, raw material and orders come in, cash moves in both directions. Any due diligence is handled here.

Accounting

You have to know what you have. This includes inventory, physical plant and staffing as well as financials. All Accounting should be automated so that trends can be detected and reported by the system. Inventory shrinkage is probably an indication of much larger problems.

Accounting is the foundation of the science of business. If you don't have a massive foundation your castle is a grass hut and your staff might as well be monkeys (they do work cheap). Flinging poo is not a bankable core proficiency.

Crisis Prevention

And mitigation when anything leaves the beaten path.

A crisis doesn't have to be a major problem, any deviation from the status quo demands attention. This includes internal and external business changes, employee requests, physical and electronic (hacking) threat assessment, as well as process, production or product issues. This is a major input to Process Creation.

Human error is inevitable (and I think those chimps are doing it on purpose). Monitoring should be unobtrusively omnipresent. It is better to assist than to control. Set the example, don't be the example.

Enterprise Management proficiencies:

Product Lifecycle

Design, build, test, release, or pick your favorite methodology. This is where new products are created and older products are updated or retired. This includes all manufacturing and scheduling. The daily grind is the largest part of the lifecycle.

Employee Development

Training and education are always required even if you're the only employee. If you aren't managing it, your education will consist of "hard knocks". (See also: R&D)

Research & Development

Know thy stuff. This is separate from Employee Development because it is focused study rather than general information. Education should (gently) cover fringe areas that you don't realize are important yet. R&D is all about things that are critical. Education is the forecastle of R&D.

R&D is separate from the lifecycle because it doesn't always involve the product. The desired result is improvement of the entire business. This is a major input to Process Creation as well as Product Design.

Maintenance

Fighting entropy. This is everything that isn't covered above, but it isn't a dumping ground.

(There is no 'Management' Type because management is always everything, usually all at once. Management is this entire table and probably another third of the entire eight billion word Instrumentation vocabulary.)

And now, the Tables

This design only shows positive terms. Negative terms would be the opposite of each 'passive' term listed below. If the term is 'active', the negative form will invoke the function or be used to capture the state or current Value.

The beachheads

• Employees
• Plant
• Accounting
• Product

Your place in the food-chain

• Sales
• Advertising
• Orders
• Territory

Product superiority

• Procedures
• Regulations
• Empowerment
• Quality

Ways, hurdles, means and goals

• Markets
• Competitors
• Partners
• End Game