David McCoy

A member of the Gartner Blog Network

David W. McCoy
Managing VP
15 years at Gartner
29 years IT industry

David W. McCoy is a managing vice president and Gartner Fellow emeritus. He currently leads the Business Process Management group as team manager and researches business process management (BPM), business rule management (BRM) and cost optimization. Read Full Bio

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The Right Tool at the Wrong Time

by David McCoy  |  June 30, 2011  |  2 Comments

I lost a little leveling wheel in my move last weekend. It’s a round disk that sits on the bottom of each leg of my Jesper Sit and Stand fancy-pants desk. I guess it fell off in the moving trucks (yes, plural) because we can’t find it anywhere. Technically, I can’t find it anywhere. No one else cares about my little leveling wheel. They’re still trying to find which box contains fresh clothes and which contains basic cookware. They’re still trying to find the bedrooms in this new place.

Anyway, I have to order a replacement wheel, so I called the dealer and he asked “What’s the diameter?” Heck, I didn’t know. I went to my toolbox to get a ruler, and I didn’t have one. I had a fancy pressure gauge, an oscilloscope (nerd alert), some incredibly fancy wire cutters, a LASER level, and a ton of other hot tools. But, I didn’t have a stinking ruler. There’s a lesson there. It’s a lesson for BPM practitioners and vendors. Tools are great, but sometimes you need just the basics. Sometimes, all you need is a ruler, and all you have on hand is a fancy laser level. Sometimes…

Is it possible that some of you are doing effective process management with butcher block paper, sticky pads, and markers? Is it possible that some of you who’ve paid boatloads of money for the latest tools are dead in the water on your BPM efforts? Nah. Not possible. Right…

It’s not the tools. It’s the technique. Good technique + the right tool at the right time = success.

PS. It doesn’t hurt to label the SIDES of your boxes before a move and tape all four of the little leveling wheels to the bottom of your desk. I’ll remember that next time.

2 Comments »

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2 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Pearl Zhu   July 1, 2011 at 6:49 pm

    Hi, David, enjoy your blog, actually you clarify the Tao of BPM: right mindset, right methodology and the right process implementation, to challenge the old thinking, fancy tools or over-complexity,
    Simplicity, transparency and value driven are essential. thanks

  • 2 John Gilman   September 14, 2011 at 6:10 pm

    Unless you figured out a technique to measure the wheel’s diameter with your oscilloscope or your laser level, I think the correct conclusion from your example is: “Sometimes the problem is the tool, not the technique!”

    BPM is the right tool for some jobs, but for many business processes it’s the wrong tool and all the technique in the world won’t help.

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