Everything that happens in this world follows some sort of process. Even the most chaotic events or occurences have their underlying patterns. Processes in the IT world were and are very important, and if they are known they can be enhanced to achieve better results. Enterprises, managers and teams often try to outline this process the hard way, but is it necessary?

Process definition and it`s benefits

A process is a set of activities that interact to achieve a result. Its clear benefit is that if it is well defined and people follow it - it improves itself. This benefit is outlined in Scrum methodology - after several weeks of work there are retrospectives on the Scrum process itself and what can be improved (not the work that was done), by identifying issues and problems that people faced during that period.
Also, well defined process can clearly point to the weakest part of the chain (bottlenecks), when it is strictly followed and observed. In these cases, those bottlenecks can be improved and in result improve all of the process output. E.g. testers and developers interactions often are unpleaseant because of testing environment`s unstability (there are lots of other interaction issues), but it seems that there is a fault in the process of how developer`s treat their code or continous deployment. Thus, improving this part of the developement`s process also improves team`s health and overall developemnt output.

Identifying process

Developement process in teams and and in between teams should be well defined. This defining process is very hard and difficult job, but brings numerous benefits. It should be noted, that process identification should be done inside the team and then outside of it, carefully observing every detail objectively and subjectively. Good strategy for development`s process identification is to observe the path of idea`s fulfillment. Stepping back and observing this path has it`s own pros and cons. The main disadvantage probably is that some underwater process streams cannot be identified. These underwater streams are some unwritten and common sense rules in the teams and these compose the foundation of the team`s process. The main benefit is that you can objectively decide what can be improved and if these underwater streams are discovered - they should be outlined to newcomers and other teams as beneficial rules that should be followed. Also, these rules should be walked through (double checked) with the lowest links of the developement chain, e.g. developers, testers, analytics and people who are in the process.
It is important to avoid taking subjective Managers perspective of the process if they are distanced from the process, because their knowledge of the process is too abstract and could be superficialy opionised by outside factors (how things should work, but they are really working differently).
Identifying the process empowers all entities that participate in the process and provide confidence for the links of the process chain.

Forcefully implying the process

Even if the process is beneficial - rushing, trying to implement process and forcefully implying the process`s benefits (the disadvantages are often concealed) - should be strictly avoided. If there is a desire to create a process that brings benefits, there should be some time spent identifying current team`s processes and what are the goals and willingness of the team to adapt the new process. However, if these things are not put under consideration, the new process might be unstable and the weakest or the unhappiest links could infringe the results of the participants of the process.

The process is like a river it can be diverted but it will always find its own course. Forcing process to environment can bring losses in teams and results.

Summary

A person who just joined an environment which looks like chaos, but goals are being achieved with no big issues, shows that there are beneficial processes which are not outlined. They should be defined to everyone, and if they have flaws that are irrepairable they should be dumped and new processes should be established.