Breaking Out of Our Unhealthy Planning Process Obsession!
We supply chain planning folk seem fixated on processes, linear information flows, fixed time horizons, aggregated or disaggregated data and relentless quests to try and improve forecast accuracy. We invest significant resources in supply chain planning solutions that reinforce these approaches. However, in our pursuit of designing flawless processes and trying to predict better using available technology, we sometimes lose sight of the ultimate outcomes we need to achieve and the critical business decisions we need to make.
The harsh reality is that many of the performance gains achieved through traditional planning methods are short-lived, and some efforts end up being futile. Despite this, we persistently discuss incremental improvements to our existing demand and supply planning practices and contemplate future AI deployment without fundamentally questioning our planning approach.
While I do not claim to know precisely what future planning solutions will look like, I am confident that they won’t emerge by merely building upon our current practices and layering on AI. Instead, we should adopt a radically different approach—one that integrates three evolving concepts:
1. Decision Centricity: Rather than fixating on processes, we should prioritize the decisions we need to make and work back from that. Customised pathways should be configured explicitly to facilitate these decisions.
2. Outside-In Thinking: Our planning decisions should be informed by signals from the extended network. Insights gathered from our customers’ customers and our suppliers’ suppliers and everything in between. 90% of which we probably already have somewhere in the extended networks.
3. Process Composability: Our planning outcomes and decisions should be supported by decision support pathways that are more flexible and more adaptable in terms of structure, cadence, and who needs to be involved and when. Pathways that can be configured uniquely for each situation with some only existing to support one decision.
These concepts are already being explored by forward-thinking pioneers and there are many insightful posts on the top two topics on LinkedIn from the likes of Niels Van Hove and Lora Cecere respectively. By collaborating with them and the companies already involved in pilots, we can hopefully break free from our current planning processes and start to achieve sustainable outcomes.
Like with all unhealthy obsessions to break habits we must start somewhere - but in planning the starting points should not be based on where we are now!
#DecisionCentricity #OutsideInThinking: #FutureStatePlanning
Middle Partnerships Manager at Hily & Taimi Dating Apps
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