Business process methodologies may be unbelievably complex or surprisingly simple. One blogger recently featured our own Robby Slaughter and demonstrated a clever productivity tip in his blogging process.

The original post is titled 31 Experts Share Advice for Buying Web-Based software. The piece contains tons of advice, such as this quote from Michael Pesochinsky:

The main thing small business owners should look for when it comes to Web-based software is the cost versus output. How much more productive will we be with this software? Will the program do the job efficiently? Can I get this product cheaper–if not for free? Asking these questions prior to selecting the software will help you make the best choice.

So what does this blog have to do with business process methodology? If you click through, you can see the author of the blog did not produce much of the content. In fact, he used a time-honored productivity improvement technique.

Instead of researching and producing a balanced article offering guidance on purchasing these products, the writer “outsourced” the work to several dozen people. In exchange for publicity, the individual experts wrote a few sentences on their own. The editor merely assembled these to form a complete article.

The divide and conquer strategy is sometimes known as a business process methodology called explicit parallelization. Instead of trying to do all the work yourself one step at a time, you scatter the tasks among multiple resources. In the case of writing a persuasive column, you can save hours of labor by spreading it out across thirty different people. Best of all, you are helping other people while reducing your own costs.

Everything has a process. There’s a business process methodology to writing a novel and a business process methodology for doctor’s appointments. Take a minute to consider your work. You just might discover a clever way to achieve more in less time. The best productivity improvements, after all, are also the most satisfying.