Excellent points TPN, as usual. A real world example of this that I can offer is losing weight, since it is something I am working on at the moment. Losing weight is a process. Would anyone seriously consider losing weight properly without first knowing how much they started weighing, and then subsequently how much weight they are losing through dieting?? NO! And would you stop measuring your weight completely after you have reached your weight target?? Well... here is the thing; if you DO stop measuring just because your "losing weight project" has completed, then you are likely to find your weight starts creeping back up. So, rather than being sufficiently aware of the situation and finding the pounds piling on as they happen, and being able to adjust your diet real-time to manage... you will find you're back to square one, having to invoke yet another major weight-loss diet project.

Loved the post as usual Craig... however you surprised me in your ending! I was expecting your usual positivity to result in a statement about how you would use your expertise in the field to "turn the beat around" with these naysayers... not just "get rid of them". Of *course* I've worked with my fair share of these types... I call them "BPM" (Business Process MARTYRS)... lol However, as a change oriented, positive kinda fella, I feel energised locking horns with these types and trying to bring them around at looking at things my way (the RIGHT way ;-) lol... Typically these naysayers are the ones who have been in the organisation(s) forever, and have seen all kinds of flavour-of-the-month methodologies and change programmes come and go, ebbing and flowing, and ultimately leading the business to the same place they were aeons ago. It is therefore tough to bring them around to the idea of cheering on change for the umpteenth time. I say *embrace* them... don't ditch 'em!! For a business to work effectively you need a good balance of all kinds of people. If everyone just jumped on the change band wagon with cheery grins, open minds and ra-ra-ra; you'd have no one about to tell you what a ridiculous idea it was, point out all the inefficiencies and help you keep objective, grounded and kicking ass thru process improvement solutions (katpis) LOL! :-) By the way... I'm trade marking that last one... haha