Understand the linkages
Understand how these relate to other processes within your organization and with your customers. Are you
adding value to those processes which are concerned with your organization, your customers or your suppliers?
A key factor is where the flow of materials, information or people between processes causes problems because
of unnecessary handovers or flash-points where things can go wrong. Understanding linkages presents a
process team with a clear idea of the key relationships which need to be managed. Failure to address linkages
between processes can result in an organization becoming a series of horizontal processes which have
boundaries as disruptive as the functional walls which were replaced.