The Process is More Important than the Result

I first heard this in a management leadership seminar a few weeks ago. When the speaker said it -- and it appeared on the screen -- I was dumbstruck. My jaw went slack.

That's it, I thought. That's exactly it. But it's so counter-intuitive. Maybe it's not true. Everyone wants results. Everything is results-oriented. Without results you're sunk, unproductive, broke and jobless. If you have to choose between a good process or good results, you're going with results, right?

Wrong.

I began to challenge it as tenet -- to make sure I could prove to myself that it is true: the process is indeed more important than results.

I applied it to me and my staff. I applied it to the work we do. To the plans we make and how we get things done. I applied it to the preparation of my lunch. I applied it to how I deal with my kids (parenthood). I applied it to my faith. I applied it to my dealings with friends. I applied it to my creative pursuits. Writing. Jazz improv. Training horses.

I looked at the processes we had gone through at work. I looked at results. I looked at good processes with bad results. I looked at bad processes with good results. There weren't many bad processes with good results. Creative processes, mechanical processes, scientific processes -- how we get the results matters. Because the process is the greatest determinant in the quality of the results.

You have to have a robust and quality process. Otherwise good results are accidental. And we can't rely on accidents to get us there. Most of the time a bad process means bad/weak results.

If you study hard and long and still fail the test, you've learned a skill that will, in the long run, make for better grades and results. If you don't study at all and because of luck answer enough questions right to get a passing grade, you've gotten nowhere. Even a perfect score is a false positive.

Process is the part that comes first. It must be good. And getting it right must take priority.

This is why it bothers me when someone says "There are two things you should not watch: making sausage and laws."

Sausage is crap we should not be eating. There is nothing good about it. We should be forced to watch it being made so we realize that. We would be much better off without ever eating sausage. You should know how your lunch is prepared.

Justify your means. That will get you to the best end.