BPM: The Tower of Babel

And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Šin’âr, and they dwelt there.

And the people became skilled in business process management and decided to build a BPM project that would reach to heaven. And by building the project tower they would make a name for themselves.

“Let us build a process so mighty the it reaches the sky!”, shouted the project manager.
The people cheered and hailed the mighty idea and the developers rushed to develop.

Wait! cried the process analysts to the developers.
You can’t work without design and requirement gathering.
Don’t worry, We will just start the foundations whilst you do the design, replied the developers.

And the developers built the foundations and were very happy with themselves.

Wait! cried the business analysts.
We need to discuss the process with the business users.
Don’t worry, We will just start the first floor whilst you do the design, replied the developers.

And the developers built the first floor and were very happy with themselves.

Wait! cried the system architects.
We need to plan system integration.
Don’t worry, We will just start the second floor whilst you guys plan it, replied the developers.

And the developers built the second floor and were very happy with themselves.

Wait! cried the project manager. We need to sit and discuss the best way to implement the process.
Don’t worry, We will just start the third floor whilst you guys talk it over, replied the developers.

And the developers built the third floor and were very happy with themselves.

And the people cried unto the lord. “These developers are unstoppable. We cannot communicate with them. Help us or we are doomed”

And the lord heard the voice of the project team and called the developers to his office for a meeting and provided them with the capability of understanding their internal business procedures in a graphical notation that will give organizations the ability to communicate these procedures in a standard manner.

The developers left the meeting with a small booklet and a worried look on their faces.

Weeks, months, years went by and all development had stopped. No more floors were added. The developers just sat in their cubicles reading and scratching their heads.

The people cheered. The project was saved!
Process analysts, business analysts and system architects all rejoiced and praised the lord.

How did you do it? asked the project manager.

I gave them the new BPMN 2 notation to learn, answered the lord.
That should keep them busy for the next thousand years.

Book of BPM 11:6