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This is Why We do Business Process Simulation

David McCoy — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:10:20 +0000

It’s not like you’re planning a trip to Mars, but your fancy new processes are just as alien and hostile until you’ve simulated them and refined them based on what you learn. Do it. It’s not a dark science or a play toy. It’s common sense.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15574646

Your Biggest Challenge with BPM?

David McCoy — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:02:52 +0000

I’m working on a list of prioritized client challenges to guide the 2012 BPM research agenda. It’s a list of the usual (vendors/tools), the new hot spots (innovation potential) and the few that will fall into “not sure that’s a really big challenge” and be dumped.

What is your BIGGEST challenge with BPM?

I’d like to know. If it’s one I’ve missed, I’ll be surprised, but I’ll certainly consider it.

For fun, you can express it in the following format (one that I will be using), which forces you to think about the full story: protagonist (role), action (verb/participle), struggle (challenge), resolution (action/benefit/outcome).:

Example: Business Process Directors are challenged to apply organizational change techniques so they can achieve the required buy-in for business process improvement projects

The Ultimate Management Theory Book?

David McCoy — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 21:32:10 +0000

I’ve not been a fan of management theory books. I have my reasons, and you probably know that from my posts in 2008. Too many of the books on the shelf are temporal ramblings from someone who has done something noteworthy and been approached by a publisher. Many are little more than comic books for adults. Every now and then, a Peter Drucker-class book comes along.

I’d like to get your take on the one (1) book that you would take to Mars, if you were being assigned as the new head of Martian commerce. If Mars is too far, then make it Albania. If you could select and read just one management theory book, which would it be? Personally, I’m still looking for the all-encompassing book, but I’ve yet to find a one called, “Stop Blinking and Move my Cheese so my Elephant can Dance like his Olive Tree is on Fire!” Until that fateful day in publishing history, what would you recommend, other than therapy?

The Right Tool at the Wrong Time

David McCoy — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:17:48 +0000

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.

BPM Certification Remains #1 Search Topic

David McCoy — Thu, 26 May 2011 21:01:17 +0000

On my blog, “BPM Certification” is still the #1 search term at 9.3% of all searches. If you add in the variants (BPM Certificate, BPM certifications, Business Process Management certification), you get a total of 13.2% of the searches devoted to this topic.

What does this tell us:

Y’all appear to be interested in having something to hang on the wall.
OMG and ABPMP should be pleased to see this interest.
All the other search terms were related to the BPMS Magic Quadrants, our BPM Hype Cycles, BPMS, David McCoy (my ego thanks you!) and…. “Doomsday Clock”

Oddly, “Doomsday Clock” is the #2 most searched single term. Is there irony in that? Sure, but I’m not going there.

Certification – it’s a good thing. Doomsday… that was so last weekend.

Gartner’s Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2011

David McCoy — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 19:44:55 +0000

This just out… here’s the press release.

And here are the Top 10, directly from the public press release. The detailed content is being released as part of US Symposium in Orlando.

Cloud Computing
Mobile Applications and Media Tablets
Social Communications and Collaboration
Video
Next Generation Analytics
Social Analytics
Context-Aware Computing
Storage Class Memory
Ubiquitous Computing
Fabric-Based Infrastructure and Computers

BPM Intent: Visibility or Control?

David McCoy — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 18:42:47 +0000

Here’s a simple question, and don’t wuss out and respond with “Both, of course!”

Is your interest in BPM primarily for visibility or is it for control?

Visibility – Show me how things work, what I’m doing, how long it’s taking, where it might need help. Be my eyes.

Control – Automate me, guide me, direct me, step-by-step me. Be my brain.

These are radically different worldviews. What’s your PRIMARY motivation?

Once you determine your PRIMARY motivation, then tell me how well you are meeting it.

My gut tells me that most will say “We like VISIBILITY… but we’re doing more CONTROL than we want to.”

Again, any comments of the “Both” nature will be deleted.

Process Improvement: A Permanent Career

David McCoy — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 01:19:18 +0000

I spent all Saturday night in the ER, dealing with “an issue” with my arm. During that ordeal – as I waited to be triaged, admitted, examined, billed, etc – I came to a blindingly brilliant conclusion: Just like a career in the ER, Process Improvement is a permanent career!

I can spend the rest of my life working in “the field of process improvement” because there’s just so much left to do.

This observation was comforting, even as I watched my arm being poked, pumped and pilloried. I realized that I am never – in my lifetime – going to pick up the New York Times and see the following headline:

All Process Problems are now Fixed! Millions of “Process Experts” to be Unemployed!

There will never come a day when our skills are not needed. We could even follow Francis Schaeffer’s lead and examine this from a “scientific, philosophical and theological” viewpoint. The tools will change; the methodologies will come and go; the names we call ourselves (and other) will morph. But, a career fixing process problems is a long-term one. The day we shut down all Emergency Rooms (for lack of need, not for budget shortfalls) will be the day we declare the end to defective processes. That’s not likely to happen, now is it?

Note: You can interpret that Emergency Room sentence in two different ways: (a) a reality check on an impossibility and (b) a snide comment about ER workflow. You decide how you want to interpret it. I know where I stand on the issue.

Tacit Knowledge and Michael Polanyi

David McCoy — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:57:00 +0000

If you like to geek out your friends with your intense knowledge of unstructured processes, then you won’t be complete until you pick up a copy of Michael Polanyi’s book, “The Tacit Dimension.” First published in 1966 and reissued in 2009, the book is a hard – perhaps even vexing – read. It quickly dives into the ethereal and the nuanced, but it’s worth it. I own a tattered, old copy. You can have a crisp, new copy. Tacit knowledge is at the core of so many activities, it’s worth knowing more about.

Disclaimer: I receive nothing from your purchase of this book. Michael is not around anymore, so I won’t even get a kind letter from him. If you like the book, then I’m happy. If you slam it down in a gust of dismay and confusion, well… welcome to the club. Pick it back up and keep reading. Nothing good comes easily.

BPM Standards – The Collective, Not the Individual

David McCoy — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:13:28 +0000

Where would you position BPM Standards on the hype cycle? Now, I’m not asking you to do my work; We’ve already written the research note and have a firm position that’s ready to go to print (to be delivered with our 2010 BPM Hype Cycle). But, I’m interested in your positioning.

Rules: Don’t single out a strong standard and don’t base your position on a weak one. Think of the collective term: BPM Standards. You may love BPMN 1.1 and that’s understandable. But don’t base your position on that. You may have scars from WS-BPEL, but don’t position based on that. You may be indifferent about BPEL4PEOPLE. But that’s not germane; Don’t count your wounds or praise on a case-by-case basis; focus on the collective term. How should one rank BPM Standards as a collective concept, a family of things, a cohesive hunk of cheese. What do you think of when someone says, “BPM standards”?

Here’s the hype cycle graphic. Where would you put the dot? Just give me the position name (e.g., post peak X%, etc.) And if you balk at positioning a collective dot, that’s still cool. I know I’m asking you to position The Rat Pack. It may not be fair to Sammy Davis Jr. and it can only help Peter Lawford, but those are the rules. Tell me where they go.