Process Cafe

Who's running your process project - The Chicken or the Pig?

Over my 20-odd years in the business I have worked on countless projects. Most of them have been deemed to be ‘successful’ (sometimes in the context of ‘We put a project in place to implement xyz and we have implemented xyz therefore the project has been successful’) and a number of them have, unfortunately, been unsuccessful. It is always easy in hindsight to look back and understand what it is about a project that made it less successful than it may have been - and the reasons are numerous. But in my experience the main reason that a lot of projects fail is change management (or lack of it). I have written about this previously. What I want to do today is to look in a little more depth at one facet of change management which is - in my opinion - a prime candidate for ‘reasons most projects are unsuccessful': Lack of senior management buy-in.

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Friday Review - 27th November 2009

Here are some of the links posted over on the Process Cafe Posterous this week

Green savings with BPM and EA Interesting post from Metastorm's Laura Mooney about green initiatives and how they can be gleaned using BPM and EA

The "30 second" 2-minute silenceAn excellent process control: Designed to stop a problem, but with an override capability if needed.

How Will BPM Deal with Pattern Based Strategies (PBS)? - Thought and comments from Gartner about the use of Pattern based Strategies and their link to BPM

BPMN vs BPEL: Are We Still Debating This? « BPMS Watch -Bruce Silver on the debate between BPM and BPEL. Yes they are, in a sense, complementary, but is one easier than the other?

Creation vs. Evolution (a business process perspective) « Bizappia Perspectives - Some interesting views on BPM & business from the Bizappia blog

If it seems too hard, it is too hard (The Process Ninja) - The Process Ninja has a lightbulb moment when looking for.. a lightbulb. Some good thoughts here on customer service and thinking of things from the customer's point of view.

First Steps to BPM Analysis with the 5 Ws « SgIM - Sanooj Kutty at the SgIM blog posits a different approach to getting your requirements gathering down on paper. Rather than confuse everyone with numerous and complex versions of the truth just sit and ask the 5 W's - Who, What, When Where and Why. Simple. But is it effective?

All information is Copyright (C) G Comerford

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Can you outsource customer service?

Just a question that occurred to me: Can you outsource customer service?

Outsourcing of business processes is becoming more and more prevalent. But the logical extension of this is that you can outsource your customer facing processes. After all this is what call centres do. So the question arising from that is 'Can you outsource customer service?'

Sure you can outsource the service function. But is this outsourcing the service?

I posted this question on a number of BPM/ process related forums. Here are a selection of the replies I received:

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Is cost cutting the new BPM mantra?

It is a sad fact of life that some organisations pay an amount of 'lip-service' to BPM and the capability of process management. This is usually in the times of plenty when income is high and everything looks good with the world.

Having an efficient and cost-effective company is not high on their priority list as long as the revenue is rolling in. But when the market is down and income is drying up a lot of the same companies are looking at ways to reduce costs increase revenue and positively impact the bottom line.

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Friday review - What happened last week 20th November 2009

With the inclusion of posts on the Posterous Cafe, this will be a regular weekly consolidation post highlighting some of the key entries made on the Posterous Cafe that may have escaped your attention:

Business Intelligence - A Practitioner's Thoughts: Bounded Rationality, BI and Beyond -10 'Did You Know?'s related to BI and the BI marketplace. Wonder how much of this applies to BPA/BPM as well? I would imagine the sections on the cloud are particularly relevant

BPM: Something for Everyone - BPM from a Business Point of View - More from BPM Basics for Dummies, but don't let that put you off

BPM fuels business growth | ITWeb - An interesting short article from South African using BPM technologies in the workplace

Process transformation - perspectives on "Business Process Management": Complexity Approach - A new perspective on organizations? - Great article from Roeland Loggen with some interesting perspectives regarding 'complexity' and how we might just be making things more complex than they need to be

Aligning Business Process with User Interfaces - Linking Business Processes and User Interfaces at Devoxx’09 A few interesting thoughts on the human aspect of business process design which is often forgotten

All information is Copyright (C) G Comerford

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Testing Time-Management Strategies - WSJ.com

via online.wsj.com

Using GTD, Pomodoro and FranlinCovey's Focus methods to determine which is more useful in managing time. (The answer is: Whichever works for you is the best - take bits from every one). A good read for you - especially if you don't have time to read it.

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Pay me now - pay me more later

Here's the situation: You've documented some of your current processes, created your organisation chart, got a small team together to define your future state and now you're pushing them to finish this because you have an ERP solution waiting to be implemented with your processes. Congratulations you've fallen into the trap of "Pay me now, Pay me more later". This trap occurs when you try to short-cut the whole process definition stage. You'll recognise this when you hear phrases such as "Why do we need a current state?", or "Let's define what we want our organisation to look like then define the processes"

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'In Any Business, 60-70 % are Non Value Activities

A recent article I read was headlined "In Any Business, 60-70 % are Non Value Activities". Further investigation outlined the fact that this was related to the Indian health care system, but it did get me thinking about whether there is a similar percentage for other industries.

I don't think anyone would argue with me if I said that all industries have some sort of non-value added activities in their processes. My interest is in minimising these activities.

Of course Six Sigma specialises in identifying and minimising these, but the problem I have with Six Sigma is that it tends to focus on specific parts of a process rather than the process as a whole. This results in either a sub-optimised process (but one which can be easily measured and quantified) or problems being shunted further along the process chain in either direction (any Six Sigma black belts out there who have a different opinion are welcome to reply in the comments).

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Friday review - What happened last week 13th November 2009

With the inclusion of posts on the Posterous Cafe, this will be a regular weekly consolidation post highlighting some of the key entries made on the Posterous Cafe that may have escaped your attention:

TechPRSpider - Software: Skelta BPM unveils the Worlds 1st Hosted Business Process Management Evaluation Portal – QuickStart™ - A quick look at Skelta's hosted evaluation portal 'QuickStart'. Might be worth a look

How do I pair BPM modeling tools with an SOA?- Some interesting thoughts and opinions on this complex topic

Ten strong hints your enterprise may not have a BI strategy - Click the link for the remaining hints. Some of them are quite straightforward and self explanatory. But that doesn't mean they are wrong!

The Next Generation of Leadership - Interesting - if slightly misguided - discussion with Jim Clifton of Gallup. He is of the opinion that most of the process improvements that can be made have been made already. That's not my experience. Is it yours?

Why Process Barfs on Social - An interesting dissertation on linking social computing and business process together

When “PROCESS” is no longer a four letter word - Mark MacDonald at Gartner has an interesting perspective on 'process' in companies. His view is that many companies see process as a four letter word because they say that it stifles innovation and inspiration amongst other things. The thing to remember is that every company has processes, even if they aren't managing them appropriately. The key - as MacDonald says - is to harness the power of the process for the benefit of the company. Some good reading here

BAM vs. BPO vs. BPM vs. BPA vs. BPMS :: SearchCIO.com.au - All the usual suspects are on the list, which goes to prove that acronyms are more trouble than they are worth usually!

Why The Pursuit Of Innovation Usually Fails - Forbes.com - Excellent article from Forbes Magazine about why big companies fail at innovation. Not strictly a process issues, but process is affected by it.

All information is Copyright (C) G Comerford

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BPM and Social media

I looked at this a while back and got no traction on it whatsoever. One problem I had was equating 'BPM' as a concept with 'Social media' as a concept. It seemed like they were too far apart
Sandy Kemsley has put together a presentation which touches on some of the main points regarding this:

Drivers for BPM: These include items such as 'Changing user expectation', 'trends towards greater collaboration', and 'Lack of agility in many current BPMS implementations'
Collaborative process modeling with points such as multiple people participating in discovery and modeling of processes
Collaborative process execution where users can step outside the structured process and create an ad-hoc collaboration

BPM and social networking
My takeaway from all of this is that the use of 'social networking' in a BPM sphere is rather more limited than I imagined, but does include a much broader definition of social networking. For example she mentions Google Wave as a tool to be used in process discovery as well as the use of forums to create external communities of practice. I don't discount any of these ideas but I don't specifically align them with 'social networking and BPM' With the broadening in the definition of Social Networking in this case I think it is a lot easier to classify items which were previously one thing as another (user forums and email, for example)

Summary
There is no doubt in my mind that the technologies and mind-set shifts that Sandy describes are having a profound effect on the way people do business today (or at the very least are building a foundation that will facilitate larger scale uptake in the near future), but whether this can truly be called 'BPM and Social media', I would question.

All information is Copyright (C) G Comerford

Free consulting - get it while it's hot!

The current free consulting offer is coming to a close.

At the moment I can offer one more slot free of charge so if you want to take advantage of this offer let me know as soon as possible.

Here's the deal:

I consult to organisations that want to get better. Companies who are in the grip of an economic downturn and who want to reduce their costs and overheads to increase and improve their bottom line. A lot of companies know how to do this (or think they do). But a lot of them don't know how to do it and need help.

According to Gartner, BPM is the most important business initiative on CIO and CEO's plates this year - maybe in a big way, maybe in a small way. Presumably this means that a lot of these executives are looking to get started in this. I believe that this is not just big businesses, but smaller ones too: the companies who are, say, mature businesses with less than 50 people. Or it could be the larger companies that are spread across different locations etc. Either way there is a lot of confusion about what needs to be done, what the potential problems are and how they can be approached.

So here's what I am offering:

If you are either:

a) Thinking about putting some sort of process improvement project together
b) In the middle of a process improvement project and seem to be stalled
c) Wondering what you can do to reduce costs and increase profit
d) Trying to document your processes and need someone to help with facilitating a process discovery session

- then let me know. I will come in and provide one day's consulting for you to help you understand what you need to do to get things started or what you need to do to make things better in your current project. In fact anything you want to do with respect to process and BPM.

And I will do all this for free! (Considering my daily rate for this is approx £750, this is quite a deal). All you pay are travel expenses - and I'll travel just about anywhere to do this. Globally.

I'll even throw in a copy of my ebook "The Perfect Process Project" for you to keep and use as you see fit.

What's next?
If you want to take advantage of this offer then let me know via an email to G_comerford at GCP-consulting.com. Let me have your name, contact details, and some information about what you're trying to achieve and - if I think I can add some value to your efforts - I'll be in touch to help you.

That's it. No strings attached. No obligation. Obviously I would like it if you decide later on to bring me on board your project for some paid work, but there is no obligation to do so. Yes, your details will be added to my mailing list, but that's spam free and is only used to keep you up to date with developments in the BPM world. But that's it.

Think about it. Do you have anything to lose? Does anyone you know need something like this? Tell them too!

I look forward to hearing from you

P.S. Contact me now and see whether we can get something worthwhile moving in your organisation while this offer still exists

All information is Copyright (C) G Comerford

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Processes by stealth - Gartner recommends it!

In a recent comment about how to set up organisational supports for BPM initiatives, Gartner's Jim Sinur remarked:

I almost jumped for joy when I read this as it, basically, aligns with a concept I tried about 7 years ago known as 'Processes implementation by stealth'. The basic issue was that the company I was working for at the time had very little knowledge and understanding of how to start a process management capability. As a result they were reluctant to move forward with creating this in light of other, more pressing, business issues. To try and move things forward I became involved with a number of projects where we 'insinuated ourselves' into the project and started to define process type activities as part of this. For example I worked with a department that was looking to outsource a large part of the work they were doing to a third party organisation. I managed to convince them that if they had a neatly defined (and agreed) process map of what their department did, they would be able to take that to a prospective third party and easily identify the hand off points and the deliverables. As an added bonus we were able to remove a number of non-value-added activities as part of the process discovery exercise.

Over the course of a number of months we took this concept of process discovery by stealth and enlarged it to some more important projects. What this gave us a chance to do was to identify a business case for including process work in all projects. Once that case was approved the organisation mandated this across all IT projects and the capability was started from there.
The end result is that a little bit of 'process management by stealth' led to a global process organisation being created where a direct approach to create that would not have happened. Ultimately the CIO took responsibility for the process capability and this gave us the senior management ownership that we needed to make this happen.

Processes by stealth - it can happen and it does happen. Where is it happening in your organisation? Or alternatively - where should it be happening in your organisation?

All information is Copyright (C) G Comerford

Friday review - What happened last week 6th November 2009

With the inclusion of posts on the Posterous Cafe, this will be a regular weekly consolidation post highlighting some of the key entries made on the Posterous Cafe that may have escaped your attention:

Teamworks 7 BPMS Report - A report from Bruce Silver on Teamworks 7's latest update. If you're not following Bruce, by the way, you should be)

Time for the next generation of knowledge automation - Some interesting thoughts about EDM, complex event management, ERP and BPM from Haleyai.com

CIO: Don't attempt BPM system without mapping process flows - A neat little article from Niel Nickolaisen about how he learned the hard way that mapping process flows is a pre-requisite to attempting BPM

Piloting social media creates more problems than it mitigates - Some thoughts on the use of project pilots for social media projects, and how process issues mean they may just fail...

Process excellence: No loose change - A lengthy case study on achieving process excellence at a UK high street financial institute. A good read.

6 Business Process Management Best Practices - I'm not sure these would be called 'Best Practices'. More like common sense to me, but useful nonetheless.

What can BPM vendors learn from the iPhone? - Mark Mcgregor (Fellow BPM Nexus Board member) discusses the thing that Apple (in a saturated mobile phone market) did very well with it's iPhone that BPM vendors should look at. Some very astute observations here and something that I think more vendors should be focusing on.

Why are Business Rules Subjugated to Process Management When Business Rules Should be Leading Process Management? - Read the discussion around this topical question.

BPM Promises "Simplicity" In 2010. Is This "Hope We Can Believe In" Or Still A Pipe Dream? -
A thought provoking and well thought out piece by Mr. Richardson on upcoming hot topics for BPM. Take 5 minutes to read this, you'll thank me later.

All information is Copyright (C) G Comerford

Hot topics this month at The Process Cafe

After checking my visitor logs recently I wanted to let you know what were the 5 most visited pages over the last 30 days here on the Process Cafe

Be sure also to check out the categories listed on the left and see posts related to my thoughts on BPM, case studies, business rules and the marketplace

All information is Copyright (C) G Comerford

Process inconsistencies hit the customer... Again.

I rented a van last week. Just a standard Luton van. I used it for transporting some set pieces to the performance venue for a local group I am a member of.

When I went to the rental location I took my drivers license and the associated 'paper documentation' which is issued by the UK DVLA. This details all the endorsements "points" you have as well as your entitlements to drive (Motorcycle, Heavy good vehicle etc.)

I've rented vans from this location before and they have my details on file so I filled out the form, signed on the line gave them my credit card and went. The guy didn't ask to see my license or paper documentation but did ask if I had any endorsements since my last visit (which I hadn't).

This week I had to rent a van again now that the production has finished. I asked a colleague of mine to drive me to the rental location. At the desk the woman asked me for my driving license (Which I supplied) and for the paper documentation. I told her she didn't need it as the last time I rented a van I hadn't needed it and all my details were on file. She insisted that I needed to produce the paper documentation. I told her I hadn't brought it because last time I brought it to this same location I hadn't been asked for it.

She insisted that she needed to see the paper documentation before she could rent the van to me. I told her that I didn't have it with me and she would have to phone the DVLA to get the authorisation (This is a 'fall-back' process which has been put in place for just such a situation)

"It's Sunday" she said. "The DVLA isn't open"

So, in other words, because she is following a different implementation of a standard process, I would have to schlep myself back home (with my colleague who had dragged himself out of bed early on a Sunday morning) just to get a piece of paper which I had told her was all in order and wouldn't need to be checked when she got it.

Stifling the urge to strangle her (or at the very least to use harsh language) I went back and got the documentation and the deal was done.

But it got me thinking. Where did the process break down? I had taken the right documentation last week but hadn't been asked for it. Obviously it wasn't needed as part of the process otherwise I wouldn't have been able to take the rental van. If this was my first time renting with them then this would have been different, but because they had my details on file the process was modified. If a licence had been needed to rent a van the process would have stopped me from taking the van away when it wasn't presented, like a credit card. A credit card was needed to rent the van. If I hadn't taken a credit card then I wouldn't have been able to rent the van. Therefore the credit card was needed, but the license wasn't. It might have been desired, but it wasn't needed. If it wasn't needed, then I shouldn't have had to schlep back home to pick up the documentation this week.

If, on the other hand, the first guy had made a mistake and let me take the van without seeing the licence - despite the fact that it was needed - then their internal process is broken to such an extent that a major check such as this was bypassed. Either way this company has a problem.

As a customer the aim of the company should have been to make my interaction with them as painless and as rewarding as possible - especially in a service industry. But this company obviously doesn't work that way. To quote the BPM guru's on the web 'The company doesn't use 'outside-in' thinking". It's one of the process maxims: 'Keep it as simple as possible'. Having my details on file was meant to keep things simple. Requiring me to produce additional documentation was complicating things when it wasn't needed.

Should I avail myself of their services the next time I rent a van, or should I go elsewhere?

All information is Copyright (C) G Comerford

Why are the 5 'Hot' questions hot?

I wanted to take a few moments to pass on my thoughts about a post I read last week. This post was from Jim Sinur and related to his thoughts on the 5 Hot Questions you should be asking about BPM.

According to Jim the 5 questions that came out of discussions held at Gartner's BPM conference and symposium were:

1 What are the Benefits of BPM?
2. How Should I Get Started?
3 How do I set up Organizational Supports?
4. Which BPM Technologies Should I Use?
5. How do Business Rules Help BPM?

Now I don't know about you but I think that at least four of those questions are non-specific enough to be used for any capability. Think about it. If you were thinking setting up a brand new widget manufacturing capability the top questions you would ask yourself are "What are the benefits of this?", "How should I get started?", "How do I set up the organisational structures?" and "What technologies should I use?". The only question I see in the list that I feel is specific just to BPM is the final question relating to business rules.

Maybe the take-away from this is that there are a generic set of questions that need to be asked for all capabilities that are being proposed. But as Jim has indicated that these appear to be 'hot' questions from Gartner customers can we assume that they are the ones that are currently in the forefront of businesses minds?

Jim does go on to actually answer these questions in a brief way. Like me, he is aligned with the concept that BPM can be a profit centre and reiterates this when talking about the benefits of BPM. He says

That's pretty impressive.

All information is Copyright (C) G Comerford

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Who's running your process project - The Chicken or the Pig?

Friday Review - 27th November 2009

Can you outsource customer service?

Is cost cutting the new BPM mantra?

Friday review - What happened last week 20th November 2009

Testing Time-Management Strategies - WSJ.com

Pay me now - pay me more later

'In Any Business, 60-70 % are Non Value Activities

Friday review - What happened last week 13th November 2009

BPM and Social media

Free consulting - get it while it's hot!

Processes by stealth - Gartner recommends it!

Friday review - What happened last week 6th November 2009

Hot topics this month at The Process Cafe

Process inconsistencies hit the customer... Again.

Why are the 5 'Hot' questions hot?

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