What is a process?

[Dave Stringer]

Does anyone have one of those snappy 10 word answers to this that is definitive enough not to be open to misinterpretation?

[John Mark Fuller]

a process is: "an action which converts inputs into outputs"

some additional thoughts being:

"a common misperception is to treat one as a noun versus a verb!"

"all work is done in process, quality throughput being the key"

"broken processes are typically at fault versus your employees"

[Dave Stringer]

OK

But are you saying that 1 action - 1 process, and
how do I know the outputs I'm creating are worth having?

Any thoughts?

[Arie Versluis]

Hi Dave,

Interesting question. My reaction is a little bit late, not because I gave it a lot of thought, but because I have not been active for some time.

I prefer to define a process as: A process is an interrelated set of activities.
Each activity is a one-step action. So a process is by definition a multi-step phenomenon.
It becomes more complex when we look at the same proces from different levels. I give you an example.
A high level manager may consider the replacement of a server as an activity, because he/she may see it is one action without being interested in or knowing about details. For the guys who have to do the job it will absolutely be a set of activities and they will certainly consider it to be a process.

I hope that I gave a clear definition and that at the same time I contributed to some confusion.