Comments on: Have We Forgotten Process Analysis Techniques?

By: Jim Sinur

Jim Sinur — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:24:38 +0000

Sara,

I appreciate that you are leaving your first comment. It’s kind of scary putting something out there where a number of folks will see it. The post you selected is by one of our “rock star” analysts, Elise Olding. She knows so much about BPM, I don’t know where to start Thanks for the readership

Jim

By: (Business) Process Analysis, Validation, Optimization | ActionBase's Blog

(Business) Process Analysis, Validation, Optimization | ActionBase's Blog — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:27:33 +0000

[...] is probably sub-optimal, but it does work or the business would be failing). Elsie Olding has a good post on this in Jum Sinur’s [...]

By: Breakthrough Process Design « BPM Focus

Breakthrough Process Design « BPM Focus — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 08:54:45 +0000

[...] are looking for “Breakthrough Performance” rather than mere “Process Improvement”. In her guest post on Jim Sinur’s blog, Elise Olding points out that many rush headlong into implementation looking [...]

By: Carol Rozwell

Carol Rozwell — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:13:49 +0000

Another technique that is quite complementary to process analysis is social network analysis (SNA). Since SNA examines the social relationships and interactions, it can uncover information and knowledge flows that augment what a process analysis shows. The SNA will identify the specific position a person plays in a social network.

What one organization found when they performed an SNA after carefully redesigning their ‘to be’ process model was that their decision making process included many more people than they expected. The process analysis had identified the steps and sequence, but had not given them a view as to the participants.

There is more information on social network analysis in the research report: Social Network Analysis: What a Difference an “A” Makes.

By: Summer Ficarrotta

Summer Ficarrotta — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:09:03 +0000

I think process workshop sessions are an excellent starting point. When I hold them, I stress the importance of getting a working but very high-level version in front of the end users (the ones that were not in the workshop) as quickly as possible, get feedback, implement a bit more, repeat until done. This helps ferret out discrepancies from the workshop, and since I advocate as minimalist an approach as possible (read: don’t add it unless someone specifically requests it) process bloat is usually reduced. You also gain that all important buy-in from the folks most impacted by what you designed.

In depth, individual interviews with the process players is a wondrous thing, but it is expensive and can still result in missed requirements since individuals tend to see the process from only their own point of view. The group workshop is an enlightening experience for everyone, including me, and I think in may cases it’s not only good enough to get the job done, but can even result in a better solution.