On Checklists – Mike Gammage

Organizations and individuals, across all industries, often applaud the idea of checklists – but have some reason why they are ‘special’ and should be exempt.

On Big Process – Brian Reale

I am often asked by analysts who our biggest competitor is. My answer is almost invariably “custom projects” or “custom code” or “specialized software.” Sure, we lose a few deals here and there to other BPMS vendors, but not really very often and not consistently to the same player(s). There are a few possible explanations for this:
1) The BPM market is much more fragmented than we think;
2) The BPM market is not nearly as well delineated as we think;
3) The BPM market is not as stable as we think.

On Process Mining – Neil Ward-Dutton

Because in this context, process mining techniques and technologies help to address an immediate pain point that an established community of industry practitioners have. Specifically, how to quickly discern the actual state of work in a given area of a business to provide a reliable foundation for analysis of improvement opportunities.

On Passive BPM – Christian Günther

Abandon the idea of “controlling” process execution, where constraints and rules are dictated from above to prevent mishaps in execution. Replace it by a “trust and check” model, where knowledge workers enjoy complete freedom. Through periodic process mining analysis, management can spot quality or efficiency problems reliably and early on, and then take appropriate action to prevent it from happening again.

On BPMS Acquisition – Scott Cleveland

What is cost of procrastination? You will learn far more attempting to implement a solution than you will researching the alternatives. You will never get back the dollars you spent while you were looking for that perfect solution. And, you will never find the ‘perfect’ anything. So, what are you waiting for?

On BPM and Delphi Exercise – Sanooj Kutty

Every first entrant to the world of BPM encounters 2 key terminologies without fail; As-Is Process and the Turn Around Time (TAT). By defining the As-Is process and identifying the current TAT, we can go ahead and model the To-Be processes and look at improving the TAT for a better customer experience

Tenders, RFIs, RFQs and RFPs – Aren’t they fun!

We’ve all been there before.
Hundreds of questions. Most of them ambiguous. Scoring.
Describe, write and explain. Keep it short. Keep it professional.
It usually means one thing – late nights.

The biggest problem in tenders is poorly defined requirements.

Given ambiguous requirements, most vendors will simply tick the “yes” box.
Given unfocused questions, most vendors will make the issue sound complex.

Given a well formed tender, vendors will think that it’s precooked for a competitor.
Given a badly formed tender, most vendors will think that there is no real budget.

Underpromise and overdeliver!… yes… but not in a tender.
So most vendors promise the moon, and a rocketship to reach it.
Once a vendor has been chosen, there is little chance that they will be “unchosen”.

Standard tender questionnaires don’t cover specific business pains.
Custom tender questionnaires don’t cover future business plans.
You’re going to spend a lot of money. So how do you get it right?

The best question that I’ve seen in a tender was along the lines of:
“The solution requires process modelling, execution, simulation, monitoring, optimization, documentation, collaboration and integration – Which components of the solution does your offering excel in”.
I liked it because it gives the customer a way to see strengths and weaknesses.
No solution excels in everything, so it also gives the customer a chance to see if the vendor is talking bull….

The best run tender that I’ve seen was when the customer brought in an external consultancy company with BPM expertise to run the tender, where the emphasis was less on the questionnaire and more on the POC. I’m a big advocate of “seeing is believing”.

The whole principle of the tender process is based on creating competition and achieving best value.
But most tenders put an emphasis on software features and functionality.
Its easier to score. Expertise, experience, professional services are harder to score.
We all understand the principle behind tenders, it’s just that the process fails on pretty much every level.

It would easy to mock the tender system, but it been used for decades, and will be used for decades to come.
Tenders are part of the sales cycle. There is no perfect tender. Each one needs to fit the customer level of understanding BPM and the business pains they are trying to solve.

Tenders, RFIs, RFQs and RFPs – Aren’t they fun!

The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So I sat in the office.
On a cold, snowy day.

I’d received a RFI,
That brought on a thought.
Does BPM fit every system,
Or am I causing distraught

And just before replying,
Before pressing a key.
I thought what would I reply,
If my mother asked me?

I sat there quite worried,
Swaying between gloom and slight hope.
The customer needed a solution,
That was out of BPM’s usual scope.

CRM manages customers,
ECM is for content obsessed,
BI for management portals,
So what does BPM do best?

The sales teams say we’ve got to make noises,
in greater amounts!
So, open your mouth, lad!
For every voice counts!”

But my conscience said, “No! No!
Make that customer go away!
Tell that customer,
You do NOT want to play.

Tell him he should not be here.
You should never commit.
You should not be answering,
If the solution doesn’t fit!”

I sat there, and sat there,
And thought to myself.
Why should answering an RFI
cause inconveniencing oneself.

So I answered all of the questions
And I wrote what I meant.
(One should always feel comfortable with the answers
One hundred per cent)

I’ll keep away from RFIs,
For a bit and a while.
So I can live with my conscience,
And walk along with a smile.

So my question is simple.
Take a second or two.
Well…what would YOU do
If your mother asked you?

On Big Process – Connie Moore

Big process is when senior-most business and technology leaders embrace business process change by shifting the organization’s focus from isolated BPM and process improvement projects to a sustainable, enterprise-wide business process transformation program that is then supported and driven by top executives.

On Big Process – Theo Priestley

Big Data…Big Process….Big Deal I say. We’re now expected to ignore the people who matter most and drive BPM solely from the upper echelons, which to be fair works as a general approach to BPM buy in, but completely ignores the connected and social enterprise which is gaining momentum.

On Process Mining – Anne Rozinat

Overall, my experience is that if the business is determined to use process mining, getting the data is not an issue at all. Typical drivers are that they want to understand and improve their processes, either because they have the perception that something is broken, or because they need greater transparency of what is going on to be able to react faster and become more pro-active

On BPM and BPO – Scott Francis

To the BPOs out there: invest in people and process, it is the best way to add value for your customers. But to the customers of BPO vendors – own your own processes. Improve them. Don’t let all the benefits of process improvement accrue to someone else.

I would like to highlight a great initiative by Keith Swenson:

Adaptive Case Management – Global Excellence Awards 2012

You’re invited to submit your case study to a panel of your peers.

The case study doesn’t need to use an bona fide ACM product as long as it shows how the solution supports knowledge workers, in an adaptive case management way.

The emphasis is on Innovation, Adaptability and Impact.

The case study then gets judged, presented and published in a book.
The idea behind the awards is to gather the best ACM examples and show their value.

The readers of your case study are looking for information on how to best implement Adaptive Case Management in their organizations. It is a new and fledgling field, and the purpose of making such information available helps the entire market by reducing the incident of failure. Most of the ideas on how to organize people, and how to structure the information, are applicable in many products, yours included.

Awards Guidelines
Submissions are open to entrants worldwide and a vendor /consultant may nominate a customer and any company may submit their own case study.
There is no limit to the number of entries you can submit. Each entry requires a separate entry form and $250 handling fee.
Winners receive recognition by having their case studies published in the new book on Adaptive Case Management to release in the Fall.

Submission deadline: End of February.
The Awards Ceremony will take place at the Adaptive Case Management Virtual Summit on June 6, 2012.

Disclaimer:
I have no connection to the awards, but I’m always super supportive of initiatives in our industry, so go and have a peek at the information and registration details here Global Excellence Awards 2012 and make your own decision.

My dearest

We have been together for some years now.

You are never a hands length away from me.
I’m always conscious about your whereabouts.

Without you – a part of me is missing.

Its funny how the simple things in life mystify you..

Your ability to get the hang of even the most simple ways to use the internet
- is surprisingly limited. And that truly is an understatement.

Yes, you are not as attractive as before. Ageing has taken a toll on you.

But I still find you useful, and I haven’t strayed off to prettier models.
You wake me up on time, help me with my emails and keep me in contact with the world.

So what can I say to you, my dearest Blackberry, on this valentines day.

I can truly admit that you are a piece of @#**!#!! !**!#@#*!! *@#*?#!!
And may you *@#!?!#* !#**@* !*@#!?!#!!

Yours,
Adam

On BPM Products – Scott Francis

If you’ve owned a BPM product for more than a year and you’re still looking at getting process #1 deployed, I’d recommend two things:
1. See about getting some professional help from a boutique consultancy focused on project success. If you’re already working with one, consider a new one.
2. If that doesn’t get you on the path to more productivity and better use of your product, consider a different BPM platform. You might have picked the wrong one.

On BPM and Mobile – Sid Nazareth

Frankly, for an industry dedicated to process improvement and eliminating inefficiencies the lack of Mobile BPM options was embarrassing.

On BPM and Mobile – Alan Trefler

..people get it that there is a big difference from having a general purpose downloadable BPM app (that does what exactly??), and a full model-driven environment that makes mobile a first class citizen

On BPM and Tasks Masters – John Reynolds

So there’s our challenge as Tool builders – Task Masters need tools to increase their Visibility into Things That Matter Now. It’s fairly easy to figure out all the information that might matter, but it’s not so easy to figure what matters now.

On On Empowering Employees and Processes – Max Pucher

Empowering employees for processes means to make them enjoy what they do by giving them what they need: autonomy, targets, objectives, expected outcomes, guidance, social interaction, transparency, and security. How could a flowchart without content give this to them?

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) isn’t a topic that gets discussed much in the BPM community.

This might be due to lack of implementations at BPO customers, or that large BPO companies usually have their own software solutions and internal process teams.
It might be due to regional differences (we hear a lot of BPO being used in India, Asia and South America – but little in USA and Europe).
But it’s probably down to the snub we give anyone that dares uses the phrase “business process” in their industry description, without referring to BPM (…how dare they…)

There is not a lot of information on BPM and BPO.
Is the lack of information and interest because BPM vendors have not targeted BPOs, or something else.

Sure, BPO probably belongs to the CRM sector. They fit well together.
But it actually makes good business sense for BPOs to look for BPM platforms.

Lack of transparency and communication are BPO’s biggest risks.
Yes, we can run and manage business processes, but instead of putting an emphasis on the operational functionality, I’d actually put an emphasis on management dash-boarding.
The ability to show management that the operations in the BPO are running smoothly, on time, and with KPIs – is crucial.
The dashboards actually lower management worry, lower operational risk, and prove that the BPO is running smoothly.

It is typical in the BPO industry to have hundreds of very similar customers.
The ability to improve business processes would prove to be more effective here than in a standard BPM implementation.

So why are BPO and BPM not talking to each other?

I do not like it, said the Queen.
One does not like it one bit, she said angrily, pacing up and down the chamber floor.

But, Your Majesty… it is the peoples’ request, answered the Prime Minister.
Peoples’ request indeed, retorted the Queen. You know I don’t like flying!

But, Your Highness… it comes with the job, fumbled the Prime Minister.

The Queen wasn’t impressed. Comes with the job indeed!, she said, annoyed.
No one told me anything about flying. One was happy to be just Queen of England, but oh no, someone decided one needed to the Queen of all the British Empire.
Why couldn’t they have a Queen for each country? Why can’t one delegate her tasks?

It’s called Outsourcing, Ma’am. It was agreed that it was in everybody’s best interests to have all monarchy processes done in the back office in London.
Outsourcing! Fiddlesticks. What is it good for? she grumbled.

Your Majesty… explained the Prime Minister, Outsourcing enables us to contract all of the operations and responsibilities of specific business functions to a third-party service provider. In this case – You.

BPO contributes to the empire’s flexibility and enables the colonies to focus on their core competencies, without being burdened by the demands of bureaucratic restraints.The public are herewith released from performing non-core or administrative processes and can invest more time and energy in building the empire’s core businesses.

Yes, Yes.. said the queen, but why does one need to fly out to these regions?
One does not like flying. Cannot one’s duties be completed from here?
Communication is key, answered the Prime Minister calmly.

For hours the prime minister explained and explained the merits of outsourcing.

As the clock struck four, the royal butler entered with the evening tea.
Will that be all Maa’m, asked the butler quietly.

Good evening Edward, replied the Queen. An interesting evening I must say. The prime minister was explaining the reasons for outsourcing, and due to that, the reasons why one will need to fly abroad for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

It was quite an interesting evening, she smiled…

The prime minister smiled as well. Glad to be of service your majesty, he said. I will bid you a good evening. The prime minister bowed and collected his hat.

Edward, said the Queen.
Yes Ma’am.

Kindly escort the prime minister to the door and ask him to tell you about outsourcing.
Yes Ma’am.

And Edward, said the Queen quietly.
Yes Ma’am.

Please remove the prime minister’s head on the way out…

On BPM and Expectations – Scott Cleveland

A large part of a BPM sale includes managing expectations. If their expectations [vision] for a solution are not possible, you will not have a successful implementation. During early discussions about BPM, I ask the prospect for their vision of a solution. We would work from there to talk about what is possible and what is not. At some point, the prospect will have altered their vision of a solution to something they are comfortable with and can actually be delivered.

On Process Mining – Anne Rozinat

It is one of the big advantages that process mining does not depend on specific automation technology or specific systems. It is a source system-agnostic technology, precisely because it is centered around the process-oriented mental model explained above.

On Process Mining – Max J. Pucher

The problem is not about identifying processes but that they simply can’t be supported by flow-diagrams! In its current form PM tries to solve a problem that isn’t there in the real world but was created by BPM. Process Mining tries to find stable flows where there aren’t any but that does not mean that analyzing people interactions is useless.

On BPM and ACM – John R. D’Entremont

If I were to do it over, I would probably simply ignore the BPM comparison, simply focus on those organization that depend upon innovation and creativity, and show how ACM can support that work, without any comparison with BPM. It seems that the knowledge work support, and routine work support, are distinct problem that can be handled by different support organizations.

On BPM, BPMN and Interoperabilty – Marco Brambilla

If you have been extensively using software modeling tools, you have probably experienced the awful situation where you want to move models from one tool to the other, but this ends up not being possible. Why? Because you are using different languages? Not at all: even just moving a “standard” model from a modeler to another is a pain.