Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

The following is a true story, perhaps embellished with the passage of time (read: fading memory) but I think you'll get the point that just having a process isn't good enough.

My son Tony is a good boy. He loves his mother. I'm rather fond of him myself, especially since every Mother's day and on my birthday he makes me - from scratch- oatmeal raisin cookies. Oatmeal raisin cookies, my absoute favorite, hot from the oven and filling the air with smells of cinnamon and sugar. Ummm. They're really the only reason I still celebrate my birthday; otherwise it would be way too depressing.

So a few years back Tony, on my birthday, was hard at work in the kitchen. Beating eggs, softening butter (real butter - only the best for Mom. Like I said, Tony is a good boy), mixing it all together. Tony had it down - he'd been doing this for years. I watched (drooling of course) as he dolloped spoonfuls of batter onto the cookie sheet. Into the oven, timer set, nothing left but the waiting.

Twenty minutes later, out came those warm, cinnamony cookies. Tony proudly brought me the first one (yes, I'll be having more than one) wrapped in a paper napkin so I wouldn't burn my fingers. The first bite. Ah, melting in my mouth. Uh, wait - hold on; this isn't right. The taste isn't quite what I expected. Neither is the texture. Hm. Got it. No oatmeal. Tony, having made me oatmeal raisin cookies countless times, was so sure he had the process down that he didn't pay close attention to the recipe, and he forgot the oatmeal.

Now, as I stated earlier, I'm quite fond of my son so I smiled and ate my cookie and gushed about how wonderful it was. But it was not what I expected, and to be honest it's not what I wanted - sugar raisin cookies just don't hack it.

So, what went wrong? There was most certainly a process in place. It was even Tony's intention to follow said process. However, since there was no automated enforcement of the process, there was room for error and Murphy's law stepped in.

When you deliver something different to your customers than what they expected, what happens? I bet they don't smile and tell you how wonderful you are. If you work in a government regulated industry, this can be death. Even in non-regulated industries, not giving your customers what they expect means you're not likely to remain in business very long.

What's the answer? Seek out every opportunity to automate each of your processes to the fullest extent possible - don't wait until you bite into the cookie to fix it.