Misunderstandings, mistakes, errors, bad faith and their consequences

Tadeu Cruz

In their eagerness to be original, creative and even genius, people create things, develop ideas, invent what they cannot, due to lack of an epistemological basis, or what, at best, should not be invented.

Methodologies is one of those things.

Any methodology, for any purpose.

Every time I hear “we have created a methodology for project management”, “we have created a methodology for systems development”, “we have created a methodology for process management”, I seek to know such a methodology for its essence, that is, for what which distinguishes it from mere attempts at standardization, mere “inventions”.

In order to know any methodology correctly, I always seek to access the foundations of such methodology, I seek explanations of “why”, “how”, “what for”, in short, I seek to know the research object through its epistemological basis.

A little explanation. What is epistemology? Epistemology studies the origin, structure, methods and validity of knowledge, and is also known as theory of knowledge and is related to metaphysics, logic and philosophy of science. It is one of the main areas of philosophy, it comprises the possibility of knowledge, that is, if it is possible for human beings to achieve total and genuine knowledge, and the origin of knowledge.

Therefore, based on my training in philosophy, I seek to know all things by their essence (without exaggeration, of course), and with methodologies it could not be different.

People gather half a dozen Power Point figures, create 10, 15 slides and...

Voila!

Any methodology has been created, with no commitment to anything, except for personal pretensions, much less with epistemological bases, not least because it will not work as a basis, guidance, for any work, and it is not really to work, but to be presented in meetings, seminars, lives, etc. In fact, what people create is a graphic script, a framework, at most a flowchart with good intentions. And we know what hell is full of...

Methodology is a word derived from “method”, from the Latin “methodus” which means “path or way to accomplish something”.

Method is the process, (did I say process?). In another article I will talk about why everything is a process. Method is the process, set of activities, whose purpose is to produce a product, good or service, to achieve a certain purpose or to arrive at knowledge.

For a methodology to be recognized as such it needs to have a philosophical basis, epistemological content, beginning, middle and end. It also needs to have tools that allow its use by anyone who wants to use it.

For example, the DOMP™ Methodology, created by me over thirty years ago, and which continues to be developed every day, as knowledge cannot be an end in itself, but a basis for the development of more knowledge, it has a beginning, a middle and finally, that is, it has a philosophical basis, epistemological content and, mainly, has a vast toolbox to allow its use by anyone who wants or needs it.

The DOMP™ Methodology tooling is composed of dozens of forms, meticulously described in a manual with more than 200 pages, called DOMP Reference Guide Manual, where each form and all its fields are explained in the smallest detail.

In the DOMP™ Reference Guide Manual Methodology there are explanations of “why each field was created and the objectives of their existence”, “what they are used for”, “how and with which data the fields must be filled in” and, mainly, “what is the involvement of each field with the whole, with the process”.

With apologies if I sound tautological, DOMP™ is a methodologically detailed methodology. There are dozens of forms with hundreds of fields to be used in the four dimensions covered by the methodology. The 4 dimensions of the DOMP™ Methodology are: Strategic Planning Dimension, Project Management Dimension, Business Processes Management Dimension, Innovation Dimension - Design Thinking. Each set of forms allows you to work on collecting data and information and developing the necessary analyses.

One of the most precise definitions of the DOMP™ Methodology was given by Estéfano S. Cerqueira - Optimization of supply logistics processes for Petrobras' exploration and production operations. E&P-SERV/US-LOG/OPNP/Logistics Process Optimization - Rio de Janeiro August 28, 2013 He wrote:

“We chose the methodology of Prof. Tadeu Cruz because we needed solid, detailed and useful information about the process. Our intention was to improve and automate logistics processes at an operational level. Most methods currently available are at a very superficial level of information, which rarely allows identifying opportunities for improvement. "The devil is in the details" (German proverb). Prof's methodology Tadeu Cruz allowed us to master the process almost as if we were experiencing it on a daily basis. This greatly facilitates the work of analysis by specialists.”

The DOMP™ Methodology has already been used in dozens of public and private companies, in Brazil and abroad, always with excellent results, there are always those who like to “misunderstand” the role of a Process Management methodology.

Someone once said to me:

- But the DOMP™ Methodology does not guarantee that everything that has been implemented will continue to be executed.

To which I replied:

- No methodology guarantees this.

Perhaps, who knows if some degree of stability can be guaranteed with the support of Workflow software, or Business Process Management Systems. But even so, there are a series of precautions to be taken so that people, always eager to be creative (always they), simply abandon the application for any reason.

There is only one way to guarantee some stability in the execution of the operations standards created and implemented in the processes, is by actively managing the processes (I will come back to this in another article). “Watch and pray” Matthew 26:41. In our case, in process management, the more you watch, the less you need to pray.

Let's get creative!

It's great to be creative, but the care that is required in everything we want to create is to be careful not to guarantee something that can never be delivered.

To end a sentence I like very much, “Superstition sets the world on fire, philosophy puts them out.” Voltaire.