Operations = Results = Operations

I'm an Operations guy, which makes it easy to talk about how something "should" work. But it's best to always start with one central point - what are the results? Results don't lie, they can't be debated about, and they are not personal (they are facts).

There are a few main types of results I focus on - Customers, Co-Workers, & Cash.

Customers: What are your customers saying about your process, the fulfillment of your obligations, your customer service, etc? Their feedback is priceless, and gives you a true look at what reality is, even when something may "feel" good internally. The customer may not be always right, but they're definitely in the 90th percentile.

Co-Workers: What do your fellow co-workers say about you? Its hard to know for sure if your company doesn't have some sort of company-wide evaluation that allows for more than just your boss to evaluate the job you do. So if you don't have something like that in place where you work, just start asking people. Let folks know you just want to improve what you do and how you do it and would love any insights they have into what makes it difficult to work with you, if there areas you can improve in, etc. Be prepared to get feedback you may not like though! Still, this is invaluable to working well with your team and improving the end results.

Cash: How profitable of a job are you doing? This one is pure black and white and gets right to results. If you are working on a project, its more than just a matter of whether the job was completed and billed - but was it actually profitable for your company? If it wasn't, is that because it was mis-quoted, mis-managed, etc? The dollar signs will stare you right in the face and are an easy way to see if the results are what they should be.

Keeping those three in mind, creating systems and processes should always be in a cyclical pattern of implementation => evaluation, revisions, implementation, evaluation, revisions, and so on. Bottom line: results should lead decisions.