ABSTRACT
A process can be seen as an agreement to do certain things in a certain way and the larger your external innovation activities grow and expand, the greater the need for agreements on ways of working. Processes are the memory of your team dealing with these external inventors and handling their inventions and without them a lot of effort can be wasted by starting every procedure and process from scratch each time and possibly repeating the same mistakes. First-class processes facilitate good communication between the information originator and the information receiver, as they help to set and manage expectations and the consistency of the information being given. Processes must never be allowed to become static, as they are there to serve you and your team and not vice versa. Ways and means to take identified improvements systematically into use should exist within your team and well-established processes can be used as a tool to accomplish this. Your processes will define what and how tasks are done and by whom, to ensure repeatability. They will also enable you to set performance criteria and measurement, which can be utilised when identifying the source or root cause of any problems or excessive variation.
