In “Standardize to Improve, Part 1,” I talked about how to map or document business processes, which I illustrated through the story of Grandma Cakes, a cake-baking business that boomed from secret recipes in one kitchen to eight factories in several cities. In this second part of the article, let’s look at some frequently asked questions about standardized business processes.

Do standardized processes kill innovation? On the contrary…

I don’t know about you, but occasionally I’ve heard people say that standardization can kill innovation. I suspect this is used as an excuse by those who don’t want to submit to the discipline that standardized processes enforce.

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