Processes: process is not sacred|INEMA.CLUB-PRO

Lesson 2 · 15 min

Choosing the first process

Carlos wants the agent in finance, from invoicing to collections; one salesperson already pastes the customer spreadsheet into a personal chatbot; the support summary runs on its own at 6 p.m. Each one started from a different side, and nobody chose. In this lesson you compare the candidates by value, feasibility, and risk, choose one, write down why not the others, and define the scope.

Start the lesson
Three managers around a table arrange white colored cards on a two-by-two grid; one person points to a card.

In this lesson you will

  1. 1Three questions that take off the list what isn't worth the effort
  2. 2Score value, feasibility, and risk without guesswork
  3. 3Why one process at a time
  4. 4Write down the choice, the scope, and what is left for later

Objective: prioritize processes by value, feasibility, and risk in a matrix and justify in writing the one you chose and what stays out.

01From a pile of ideas to the first process

Five steps, from the list to the written choice. Click each one.

Click each block of the diagram to see what it does.

Criteria from module 1 of the Gestoria method (INEMA) and from the AI Work Architect.

02How to choose

Four steps. Horizonte's scores (fictional study company) are in the model alongside.

1. List and filter

Start with the list and run the three questions. A process that happens once a month, with just one person, rarely pays off the work of mapping, measuring, and redesigning.

Put on the list what has already been automated without anyone deciding. An AI tool that someone turned on by their own initiative is a process redesigned on the sly, with a risk nobody has measured.

At HorizonteFive candidates: order via WhatsApp through to the invoice; collection of overdue payment slips (where Carlos wants to start in finance); daily support summary; proposal for a large customer (the salesperson uses a personal chatbot); replenishment purchasing from suppliers.

03Template to copy: prioritization matrix

Five rows, three scores, one reason per score. The adjacent tab shows the Horizonte matrix.

Value × feasibility × risk matrix
PRIORITIZATION MATRIX · area: <...> · filled in by: <name> · date: <dd/mm/yyyy>

FILTER (all three must be "yes")
  repeats at least every week? · more than 2 people or more than 10 steps?
  when it runs late or goes wrong, does it cost money or a customer?

SCORES from 1 to 5, each with a one-sentence reason
  Value (V): volume, people's time, rework, customers waiting
  Feasibility (B): owner, written rules, data in a system you can read
  Risk (R): money, personal data, customer, irreversible (5 = big damage)
  TOTAL = V + B + (6 - R)

| Process (from where to where) | V | reason | B | reason | R | reason | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <...> | <1-5> | <...> | <1-5> | <...> | <1-5> | <...> | <...> |

CHOSEN: <process>
  Why this one: <sentence>
  Why not the runner-up: <sentence>
  Why not the one the boss asked for (if it's a different one): <sentence>
PILOT SCOPE: in <cases> · out at the start <cases>
QUEUE: <process> · reason it's not now · what needs to change for it to move up
Prompt · devil's advocate for the choice
You are an experienced, skeptical manager. Below is the matrix I used to
choose the first process to redesign with AI in my area.
Don't choose for me. Play the role of someone who disagrees:

1. Point out scores whose reason doesn't support the number given.
2. Tell me which risk I may have underestimated in each process.
3. Give the best argument in favor of the runner-up.
4. Tell me whether the scope leaves out something that should be in.

Matrix:
"""<paste the matrix>"""
Simulation: illustrative example

Sales and operations · Patrícia · Horizonte, fictional study company · fictional scores

ProcessVBRTotal
Order by WhatsApp through to the invoice54312
Replenishment purchasing from suppliers33210
Daily service summary2448
Proposal for a large client3348
Collection of overdue payment slips4257
  • Order → invoice: about 170 orders per week, rework in invoicing (V 5); the app and ERP exist and the discount policy is written down (B 4); it touches pricing, but the invoice still goes through people (R 3).
  • Daily summary: sends conversations with personal data to a service outside the country with no contract (R 4). Before improving it, it needs fixing.
  • Proposal: today it uses the customer spreadsheet in a personal chatbot, outside the inventory (R 4).

Chosen: order → invoice. Not replenishment: less volume and fewer customers waiting. Not collections: no baseline and the highest risk; it moves up when invoicing is measured.

04Practice

The Horizonte matrix to calibrate your scores; yours for real.

1 · The Horizonte matrix

20 min

Open the IT inventory and the service summary piece in the lab. Redo the matrix for the five processes with your own scores, without copying the ones on the tab. Where your score differs by 2 points or more, write down your argument. Run the devil's advocate prompt.

Done when: all 5 processes have the three scores, each score with a one-sentence reason, the total calculated, the chosen one with the three sentences of justification (including why not collections), and the scope with at least 2 exclusions.

2 · The matrix for your area

40 min

List the processes in your area that pass the filter, including the ones someone has already automated without agreeing on it. Pick 5 and fill in the matrix. Show it to someone who works on them and adjust the scores they challenge with a good reason.

Done when: the matrix has 5 processes with a start and an end in the name, 15 scores with reasons, the chosen one justified in 3 sentences, the pilot scope, and the queue with the reason each one is not now.

Lab pieces: IT inventory and service summary (fictional study company).

05Quick test

4 questions. The explanation appears after your attempt.

Question 1 of 4

The owner wants to start with collections, which has high value. The matrix gave it a total of 7 and the order flow 12. What do you do?

06Summary

Filter before the matrixRepeats every week, involves several people, costs money when it goes wrong.
Score with a reasonValue, feasibility, and inverted risk. Without a sentence, it's a guess.
One at a timeThe second one starts when the first has a baseline, a version, and an owner.
Written choiceWhy this one, why not the others, the pilot scope, and the queue.

To go further

AI Work Architect: ten critical processes, not dozens of chatbotsHorizonte Lab: IT and shadow AI inventory (fictional study company)AI Management Area: the 8 competencies
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