Optimize this process, optimize that. Optimize for X. Sometimes it is just a waste of brain power and energy. It doesn’t really matter what you are trying to optimize, the process of optimization reduces the potential of variability. While variability can produce seriously negative consequences, it can also unleash creativity and delight.
Reducing waste and eliminating extraneous steps are noble goals, but digitizing and homogenizing everything ultimately leads to something that lacks meaning.
It becomes the digital equivalent of Tiny Boxes. A digital landscape of generic forms designed to streamline some backend process that provides little benefit to the end user.
The forms are almost always clunky and they are either too complex or too simplistic to convey the valuable contextual information. I have been on both sides of the form and have been guilty of wanting to use them to streamline and simplify things.
And don’t get me started on automated call centers and the call routing systems. In theory this is intended to optimize call handling and routing, but it may actually be optimized to frustrate and annoy any inbound callers. The menu options are never quite what you are looking for. The voice recognition doesn’t work reliably, you need to repeat the reason why you are calling at each handoff and you dread the thought of ever having to call in again. Coincidentally, it seems that everyone is simultaneously changing their menu options so you are always encouraged to listen carefully.
Finally, there is the support ticketing system which is a beautiful hybrid of the two ‘optimized’ processes above. Tickets and issues that are force fit into specific queues which may or not be properly categorized or may span across multiple categories. The ticket notes get longer and longer and more confusing as more people are brought in to handle the ticket. The rationale of a ticketing system makes sense, but it is not necessarily optimized to help the person submitting the ticket or the help desk for that matter.
Maybe a little less effort on optimization of the system with a little more focus on optimizing the user experience would produce more lasting results.
Optimization in and of itself, may be a dead end.