Process often gets a bad rap – especially in start-up culture, where speed and spontaneity are prized above all else. It’s easy to see why process invokes the image of red tape, bureaucracy, and rigid systems that stifle momentum. Even Steve Jobs famously said:
“Process makes you more efficient. But innovation comes from people meeting up in the hallways or calling each other at 10:30 at night with a new idea…”
Yet, in the very same breath, he acknowledged what many overlook: “Process makes you more efficient.“
And, I’d confidently say, it does more than that – it makes creativity possible.
As someone who has ideated, designed, and built processes in both manufacturing and service industries – across large organizations and start-ups, I’ve seen firsthand the clarity and freedom good process brings. Not because it tells you what to do, but because it takes away what you no longer need to do.
Process as Subtraction
Process is a negative paradigm. That is, it’s not about building something new – it’s about removing what doesn’t belong. Waste. Defects. Disorganization. Apathy.
A good process reveals what’s essential by cutting away what isn’t. Like a sculptor chipping away at a block of stone, the art isn’t in adding, but in subtracting.
While most tasks in an organization aim to create something new, process works by identifying friction and removing it. It allows creativity to thrive because the repetitive, low-value decisions are already accounted for.
Don’t Ask: “What Do We Want to Improve?”
To build a strong process-oriented culture, you need to stop asking the wrong question.
The question, “What do we want to improve?” is often asked by people who don’t really understand process thinking.
If a problem can be addressed through process, then understanding the problem and knowing how to solve it are the same thing. The better question is:
“What do we want to eliminate, delay, or stop doing?”
Because real efficiency doesn’t come from adding more. It comes from knowing what to cut by developing Mindful Productivity skills like Decision Clarity Window – a way to pause, observe, and detect what’s unnecessary, not just what’s urgent or important.
The River, Not the Road
Many leaders resist process because they think it’s like pouring concrete – a tar road between now and tomorrow that locks in today’s way of doing things. But that’s a myth.
A good process is not a road, it’s a river. It flows. It adapts. It reshapes with time.
It helps you glide with the current instead of fighting against it. It reduces friction, enables swift turns, and gets everyone swimming in the same direction.
This is also how the STOP Framework in Mindful Productivity works – it adapts to your emotional currents, helping you move with awareness and intentionality rather than push through blindly.
Rethinking Efficiency
Efficiency is not about doing more. It’s about doing less of what doesn’t matter.
The desire for efficiency and the feeling of inefficiency are actually the same thing. But they point in different directions.
The desire pushes you to build something aspirational – an endless roadmap of features. The feeling, on the other hand, can be questioned. It helps you notice the cracks and close the gaps between effort and outcome.
So next time you’re staring at a task or system and wondering how to optimize it:
Don’t ask: “What should I do to be more efficient?”
Ask: “What can I eliminate to be more efficient?“
This is exactly what the ProProPhro Circles in Mindful Productivity helps identify: what doesn’t add value, whether in life or in building your organization.
Clarity is where real efficiency begins.
Even Decision-Making Is a Process
And this principle of elimination applies just as powerfully to the most personal process of all: decision-making.
To decide is to cut off. Literally. The root of the word “decide” (decidere in Latin) means to cut away.
You don’t make a decision by simply choosing one thing – you make a decision by letting go of everything else. By cutting away the noise. You accept the consequences of the choice, not just because it’s the best, but because you fully understand what you’re leaving behind.
That, too, is process. And it’s as creative as any spark of inspiration, because it clears the space for focus, clarity, and action.
So no, process doesn’t hinder creativity. It makes it possible.
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Nikhil Kabadi 