David McCoy

I guest lectured tonight at Georgia State University’s Robinson College of Business – my other alma mater.  The topic – naturally – was business process management, and for over two hours, I subjected these undergrads to the history of BPM:  How the market of 1999 – 2003 emerged from the roots of application integration and workflow; the story of BAM starting in 2001; and how BPMS in 2006 – 2008 was like a black hole, subsuming every point technology in its sight.  I feel I can lecture on this since (a) I was there analyzing it as it happened and (b) I was there making some of it happen – as when Roy Schulte and I drove BAM from a vision to a well-established concept.  As a precursor to tonight’s lecture, the students were encouraged to read my blog – to get a feel for my style, humor and background.  Many of those who did read the blog – who got to know my style, humor and background – were actually brave enough to show up for the lecture.  Interesting…

I like undergrads.  When I guest lectured in Hong Kong a few years ago, I met some very sophisticated kids who were the cream of the Asian crop.  Even so, as I lectured, they were busy with cell phones, instant messaging, sleeping, etc. – typical undergrad fare.  Tonight’s group had its share of typical undergrads too – there were a few drooping eyelids, and a lot of screen-gazing going on as I spoke.  I have come to expect this kind of audience behavior when I lecture to undergrads.  As a disclaimer, I too was a typical undergrad.  I got some of my best snoozes in Political Science – sometimes I even went to class to do my snoozing.  I imagine myself as a 20-year-old in a lecture hall, hearing some geezer go on and on about integration brokers, message warehouses, event correlation, batch file transfer…  opps, sorry.  I just put myself to sleep.  Even with a topic as dry as dust – it was still a lively session and we had a lot of fun.

I have a few observations from tonight’s venture:

1. College kids know the economy is in trouble and they are concerned about the job market and making money when they graduate.  Some of them see BPM and “process stuff” in general as a nice potential for making a difference – and a buck.
2. Some colleges are doing a great job preparing undergrads for a career in BPM.  This group had been working with BPMN, building models, learning simulation, gathering insight that some enterprises have not even started working on.  Not every college has tackled the BPM challenge.  GSU is one that has.
3. These guys are going to be tomorrow’s process owners, process analysts, process consultants.  They will be buying process tools, extolling process virtues and generally, carrying the process torch.

As I have mentioned before in this blog, there is new blood coming to market every graduation season.  You should check out what they are learning.  Imagine hiring someone who doesn’t have to ask, “Ugh… just what is a process?”  Imagine hiring someone who cut her teeth on BPMN as an undegrad…

When did you first touch BPMN?  Yeah.  Me too.  Good luck with your degrees guys.  We need you out here.  Hurry up and graduate and get those resumes on the street.  And catch a good snooze in PoliSci if you can – for old time’s sake.