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Management tools are fundamental for planning and executing activities, as well as methods such as 5W2H, which have also become essential to speed up processes.
One of the main obstacles to process performance is the existing errors and bottlenecks.
The lack of clarity in tasks leads to doubt, increases the deadline for decision making, and contributes to hindering communication between people and sectors.
We know that management isn’t easy, especially when there is no planning as to deadlines or delimitation of responsibilities.
So, get to know 5W2H. An incredibly useful tool with wide applicability, capable of streamlining your processes and contributing to the execution of your action plan.
The 5W2H Method
Aiming to simplify the planning of any activity, it was initially used to bring improvements to quality management.
However, its ease of use expanded its application, making the 5W2H method a more widespread management tool that started to be used in the most diverse situations.
This happens because the methodology that makes up the tool is basically a list of items that must be considered and answered to ensure transparency and understanding in the execution of given activities.
This clarity happens because 5W2H works as a mapping of activities, defining their order of execution, deadlines, responsible parties, and involved areas, as well as covering the reasons and objectives for which these tasks are performed.
The methodology goes even further, including how it will be carried out and how much it will cost for the company.
Now you learned that the tool’s purpose is to capture information and bring an understanding of how processes take place within a company. But what are the 5W’s and 2H’s?
Why 5W2H?
As mentioned, this tool aims to answer a kind of checklist to understand the current scenario of a certain process or activity within the company.
The five W’s and the two H’s represent seven questions that the method aims to answer in order to bring reflection about a certain problem or need:
- What? Here you reflect on what is to be done, describing the steps and results to be achieved;
- Why? In this step, its purpose is explained. Is it meant to solve a need? Will it improve a stage, a process, or a bottleneck?
- Where? Here we announce the place, sector, area, or department where the project will be executed. The place can be physical, or virtual — a database, for example;
- When? The answer establishes deadlines for each stage that will be carried out, and for the completion of the project. Creating a chronogram helps in the project follow-up;
- Who? This question helps defining which professional(s) will be responsible for each activity’s performance, as well as a single person responsible for the project as a whole;
- How? This step is broader, it’s about describing how and which methods and tools will be used for the project to happen and bring the desired results. Define guidelines so that everyone is aligned with the same purpose;
- How Much? Identify the costs and expenses involved. Remember to list all the needs, such as implementing new equipment or tools and software, hiring staff, and consultants, among others. In short, everything that will require financial investment.
The better and more detailed the information for each stage, the better and more precise the planning, and consequently the control and management of the changes inserted by the project.
Agile methodology tools are an aid to follow up on the execution of everything that was stipulated by the 5W2H action plan.
Why you should use 5W2H to speed up processes
Have you noticed how easy this tool is to be carried out, and its ability to clarify all the relevant doubts about all the elements that make up a process?
This is the main reason to use the methodology aiming at process agility, because when there is transparency about what a task is and how it should be done, as well as who is responsible, we minimize and ultimately avoid errors and bottlenecks that are generated mainly by mistakes or misinterpretation of information between people or departments.
The agility in the processes comes from better execution, which brings a higher level of performance. These indicators are improved when the bottlenecks and their main causes are analyzed and identified.
Mapping process activities consist in covering everything that involves its execution, as we explained earlier. This provides an in-depth understanding of its deficiencies, but mainly, helps us finding alternatives that can meet and improve the diagnosed needs.
Observing its processes, and especially the steps that comprise it, provides us what we need to create a surgical action plan consistent with the desired results. And it also enables resource optimization.
This is possible because, oftentimes, the management knows that there is a certain activity that requires more time to be executed, or maintains high rates of rework, however, it doesn’t know why this phenomenon occurs.
By applying the 5W2H, answering all the questions, the manager has a holistic view of the process, knowing its deficiencies and the reasons that cause them to arise. With this, solutions are created and an action plan is planned to implement the appropriate improvements.
In this article, we explain how to use 5W2H to avoid bottlenecks in your organization.
Bonus – Process automation allied with 5W2H agility
Now that you’ve realized how the 5W2H can generate an efficient action plan to improve your processes, we emphasize the importance of relying on the BPM methodology to enhance them.
Besides contributing to performance, by relying on a tool such as Fusion Platform in the automation of processes, your company gets benefits such as time savings, productivity gains, transparency, quality, consistency, cost reduction, continuous improvement, and metrics control.
Fusion provides the customization and generation of a series of reports that contain information related to each step and to the process as a whole, enriching and making the action plan to be implemented with the 5W2H more assertive.
Get to know Fusion Platform within your company’s reality. Test it right now and see how, in a simple, friendly, and intuitive way, our modules help you manage your processes.
Tell us in the comments if your company uses 5W2H and what results you’re getting from it!
