Entrenched Thinking

I’ve written before on this blog about entrenched thinking “The Way It’s Always Been Done”. But I think the time is ripe for visit this topic because it is still something that occurs a lot more than we would like in companies.

What is it?

The example I give - one passed down from my father - is the dry cleaning business which had a rather erratic and nonsensical route for the delivery truck to take. More details can be found here :


What that story illustrates is that there are decisions which are taken at a corporate level each and every day which are not always based on sound business judgement, but are based on historical reasons for doing things.

That’s bad, right?

Not that there is anything wrong with checking history when looking at why we do things. But businesses must remember that situations change over time and what was, historically, true may no longer by something to consider. My other example is related to the insurance industry and can be found here:

Both of these stories have an underlying symptom which is more relevant to today's working environment: Resistance to change.

Resistance to change

Sure, it’s easy to continue doing things the ways you’ve always done them. It’s familiar. It’s comfortable. It’s easy. It works. Changing the way something is done can lead to confusion, uncertainty, unfamiliarity, even a decrease in quality of the final product, but all of these things are just temporary. When I was nearing the end of high school, a classmate had an accident which resulted in him severing most of the tendons in his right arm, (the one he wrote with). Overnight he was forced to learn to write left handed. The initial results were not good but by the time examinations came around his hand writing was as good with his left hand as it had been with his right hand.

This shows that change - whilst not always welcome or expected - does not have to be bad. But it does need to be managed.

People need to understand why change has to occur. People need to have help in understanding how to change. Most of all people need to feel that they are being listened to and that their input is being heard.

Of course, this isn’t easy. But research has shown (and my own anecdotal evidence has confirmed) that bad change management is one of the key points of failure amongst projects. 

End users are not often told why things need to change. They are not told what the benefit is of changing. Mostly, though, they are not compensated for following the new behaviours

Compensation?

It has often been said that what gets measured gets rewarded. If this is the case then measuring adherence to implemented changes and rewarding users  for that will certainly increase uptake. Conversely, punishing users for adherence to the old way of doing things will have a similar affect, but will be viewed in a slightly less positive light.

Summary

Change is good. At least change with the intention of improving things. Entrenched thinking can be a source of inefficiency, resistance and cost and needs to be overcome to improve process. The opposite, of course, is true: needless change for the seek of it isn’t going to win you many friends either.

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Filming for TV: Some thoughts on process ownership

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while will realise that I do, occasionally, like to look into things that happen in every day life and try to understand the process issues inherent within them.  I want to move onto something related, but a little different.

Television.

I was fortunate enough recently to spend time working on a new comedy series to be produced for UK television. It was filmed (as many comedy programs are nowadays) in from of a live studio audience.

This is different to a lot of things I have filmed in the past for two reasons

1) There is a live studio audience!

2) The dynamics of command and control are very subtly different.

Let me explain.

In ‘filmed’ television (‘Downton Abbey’, for example), the director is in charge of the filming production and the first assistant director (1st AD) is in charge of running the set. The chain of command goes Director --> 1st AD --> heads of department. It’s a little slow, but it works and it keep the unions happy. Filming is done with one camera at a time (usually) and the final footage is edited together separately for transmission.

Television works quite differently. For a start there are more cameras. On the show I did recently there were five cameras running independently. These were big broadcast cameras which didn’t have on-board recording facilities. The signal from their feed was sent to a control room where they were mixed together by a producer. He is - effectively - editing the show as it is being filmed. 

Takes are quite long and complex involving a lot of camera movement and choreography. If a camera isn’t in the right place at the right time the take is blown and we have to go again.

So far, so good. But here’s the rub. I couldn’t work out who was in charge on the set. Sure there is a director and 1st AD. These two worked together in a similar way to on a film set. But there was also the producer character who was involved in all the artistic decisions because he had to make it all work in the control room. The issue came when the Director wanted one thing and the producer wanted another. It became a case of review & decide, cajole & threaten in order to reach a compromise. And a compromise is never good, artistically.

But the whole discussion got me to thinking about a topic which is close to my heart : Process Ownership. I think it's accepted that processes need to have somebody responsible for them. But is it accepted what the scope of process ownership should be? I don't think so.

I think that process ownership is oftentimes equated to project ownership at the senior level. In many cases someone is allocated project ownership at C-level purely as a way of ensuring that the project is seen as having “clout”. In reality the assigned C-level executive has minimal, if any, ’skin in the game’ for this project.

And so it is with processes.

An executive Vice President for finance might be nominated as the process owner for a process in the finance department, but - in the big scheme of things - has very little, if any, involvement in the day to day running or execution of the process. Some would say that this is fine - after all, why would a senior executive need to be involved at that level?  But I have a different opinion. I am sure that the are arguments that can equate the ROI of having the exec manage a process vs delegating, and these are all totally valid calculations. 

But they miss the big picture. 

Process is not something that happens in parts of an organisation. Process is something that happens across the whole organisation and having someone who can manage that at the organisational level makes a lot of sense. Any lower in the organisation and you start to suffer from the problem of silo mentality and not invented here syndrome. But at the senior level you have someone who has both the executive clout and the mandate to manage a process from start to finish right across the organisation.

However the logical extension of this is that there are going to be senior executives who mange processes but who will not manage them appropriately. Take, for example, a senior Vice President of Finance who is managing a process which touches more areas than just finance. If a change needs to be made he will, most likely (and politically) favour his own department if anything needs to be done that is positive, and favour other departments if negative changes need to be made. This is human nature. Of course the simple way to do that is by following the old guideline of “whatever gets measured gets managed”. If you recompense the finance executive on his ability to appropriately manage the whole of the process rather than on the results of the finance department alone, this will start to remove any political bias that may exist.

On the other side of things is the issue we experience in the TV studio where the process owner is not adequately defined and this results in two people having differing idea related to a change. They end up with a compromise, and this is - by definition - less than optimal.

Of course this isn't easy. Nothing at this level ever is, process even more so because it covers a larger part of the organisation. But these are the challenges that need to be addressed to make process management as a competency work in your company.

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The CPO

In the style of Seth Godin.

If process is so important, and everything that happens in a company is a result of process occurring, why doesn't every company have a Chief Process Officer?

Reason: We haven't built a compelling, cost-effective, and succinct reason to install a CPO.

But the bigger question is : Why haven't we?

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BPM Disruption

There are certain individuals in the BPM stream who seek to disrupt the status quo. Some of them are blatantly provocative with what they say, others are more subtle and seek to try and influence people. They have made it their mission in life (sometimes as individuals, sometimes as heads of companies) to be deliberately inflammatory in their comments. Usually this is done to provoke a reaction and start a dialogue or a conversation. 

This isn’t to say that they are wrong. Far from it. Many of the ideas they espouse are just what the discipline needs to move itself forward. But in this post I’d like to talk about this disruption and analyse what it means for our particular skill set.

What sort of disruption are we talking about?

Disruption in this sense refers to those bloggers who advocate completely rethinking how we work. They turn accepted principles on their head and attempt to make us consider things from a different point of view.

Some bloggers are less forceful and will suggest alternatives to commonly accepted practices in areas such as workflow design and case management, for example.

The tone taken by these individuals can vary from the basic “Maybe we should be considering…” right to “Why the hell don’t you just wake up and smell the coffee!”.

A simple example of this is the basic ‘What is BPM?’ conversation. It is one that I have had with several people both as an individual blogger and as the head of the now defunct BPM Nexus. We were looking to define BPM as a discipline and unite several different factions within the industry. Sadly it never came together. Others have tried to deal with this with manifestos and similar. But there are bloggers and practitioners who will look at this and say ‘Now isn’t the time to start defining what BPM is currently. We should be looking at what we want it to be and completely redefining the whole concept.’  An excellent challenge, I think, and one which perfectly fits the concept of disruption.

Is the BPM industry in need of disruption?

The question then arises about whether the BPM industry needs such disruption. After all it is an industry which has been in its current state (or very nearly) for several years. Standards have been defined (BPMN, for example), market leaders have been established for software provision, and lots of System Integration companies have made a healthy living from implementing solutions for companies that probably have no idea whether the correct solution is being advocated or not. Does this need disruption?

It’s a great question. History has shown us that industries which maintain the status quo are apt to be swallowed up by those that attempt to disrupt it. Only recently in England two major high-street shopping chains (HMW and Blockbuster Video) have filed for bankruptcy protection after their underlying business model was eroded by companies such as Apple and Amazon. The disruptor identified a potential niche, filled it and expanded to the point where the incumbents were forced to react. Those that reacted were able to survive, those that didn’t, failed. More recently Microsoft - once THE major player in the world of personal computers and technology - is now languishing as an also-ran in the world of tech, its recent hardware/software launch with Windows 8 and the Surface failing to excite consumer attention. Indeed, Microsoft (and computer manufacturers such as Dell) are barely mentioned as tech players nowadays with companies such as Google having taken much of the wind out of their sales (sic). No doubt, as we move on, Google will become complacent over time and be usurped by another company with a different business model that attracts user attention.

Is the BPM industry in need of similar disruption? Hard to say. One thing is for certain, if the industry sees itself as immune to innovation there is every chance that it will follow the likes of HMW, Blockbuster and Microsoft and be overtaken by some now innovation.

Is at appropriate - should we tolerate this?

So the question arises ‘Is the disruption of BPM by such bloggers something that should be tolerated?’ On a base level there’s nothing we can do about it. The First Amendment in the US, and similar laws in free countries around the world, allow for anyone to say what they want both in person, on broadcast and print media, and on the internet. So there’s nothing we can do to stop them saying what they want.

But should we listen to them?

That’s the important question. Whether you agree with what they say or not the key factor is always ‘Do they have anything interesting to say?’. They may be seeking the removal of workflow diagrams, for example, or advocating the dissolution of non-standardised training certifications, or any of a hundred other bug-bears that bloggers (myself included) have written about. You may not agree with any given idea, but if the idea is something which has merit to someone then of course they should be heard. A true civilisation is one where all voices are listened to and all voices are heard. Once we get into the practice of suppressing opinions we are on a long, slippery slope

Summary.

Voices with dissenting opinions have always been around in free society. One of the key definers of a free society is how it treats people who differ in their views to those advocated by the leaders.  We may not like what they say, or we may like what they say but not how they say it, but as has been shown  time and time again “Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it”.

Can there be too much inappropriate BPM disruption?

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How does BYOD affect BPM?

In this post I'll be looking at the concept of BYOD (or Bring Your Own Device)

BYOD is a concept that, frankly, didn't exist a couple of years ago. Mobile devices were laptops and that was, pretty much, all you could use. You took one to a client (or an affiliate/branch site) and plugged it into the network. It became your mobile desk.

But since the advent of the iPhone and the subsequent boom in smartphone and tablets, the concept of someone 'bringing their own device' to a location is a much more diverse affair. (Of course, 'devices' have been around a lot longer than the iPhone. In the attached picture you can see a Palm Pilot, Apple Newtons, and Treos. But the iPhone - and it's ability to connect outside the device itself, has really pushed this sector forward)

I do a lot of work at the 'offices' of a well know Seattle-based coffee shop and whenever I go there I link into their Wi-fi with both my smartphone and tablet and I can work pretty much seamlessly between the two. I don't need my laptop which stays at home 99% of the time nowadays. I know that this is something that a large number of 'mobile' workers do.

Connie Moore from Forrester wrote an article on the concept of Bring Your Own Technology back in November. In it she stated:

According to Forrester's Forrsights Workforce Employee Survey, Q4 2011, of nearly 10,000 workers worldwide, 53% bring their own technology for work. The rapid growth of mobile BYOT devices within business is reminiscent of Web adoption during the mid-1990s. After early handwringing and resistance, followed by rapid growth and innovation, the Web emerged as an indispensable tool. No one thinks twice now about using the Web for work. BYOT will follow a similar pattern.

What does this mean for BPM?

Issues
As with a lot of 'new, fangled stuff', there are issues to be overcome.

The first issue to be tackled is acceptance.

Connie makes mention of an underlying issue with this concept in many businesses, which is that of security. In regulated firms the concept of allowing a 'foreign' machine to attach to a network is anathema. The RIM Blackberry phones are, pretty much, the only tools that are exempt from this and that's because they are controllable by a central IT function. As someone who previously worked in the highly regulated Pharmaceutical industry I can align with this sentiment.

In more  'open' firms this is less of an issue. I know creative designers who edit video at a remote location on their iPad using the LogMeIn app on their home PC and running renders on their work servers. For them this is a case where the BYOD concept has made them more productive and able to work in places they would never have been able to do so before (This particular instance occurred when the employee in question was sitting in a vehicle service reception waiting for his car to have some work done on it!)

Growth factors
A lot of this BYOD expansion has been brought about by increased usage of 'The Cloud' and associated applications. Companies like Dropbox and Evernote have pioneered the ability to produce something in one location on one machine and have it instantly available on all machines at any location. Application developers are linking in to this ability by designing connections to these apps (and others) in their products. This very post you are reading was started on my PC at home, continued on my iPad in a remote location and  finished back on the laptop at home, all through the use of Dropbox and apps that connect to it. The ease with which these tools are now integrated into many peoples lives means that their use in a work environment is bound to increase. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to work on a document at your desk, save it to the cloud and continue work on it on the train home in an evening via Dropbox or some other Cloud application? I can see this becoming something that is more prevalent as time increases.

BPM and BYOD
The BPM world needs to understand this and incorporate it into their workflow.  Many workflow automation tools use email as a way of notifying users that tasks are awaiting their attention within the tool. In normal situations the user would sign on to the app, process the task and sign out. This is fine if you are in the office, but what happens if you want to use your commute, or time at a coffee shop, or a spare ten minutes after the kids have gone to bed, to process these things on your phone or tablet? If the security of the company is set up to inhibit access to your network from non-approved hardware this, effectively, rules that out.

For reasons we have discussed earlier this is something that will work differently depending on the sort of business you are working on. Highly regulated industries will have to work on finding some sort of alternative to doing this. Some of the less regulated industries will probably look at this and understand that there are benefits to allowing user devices on their network. Either way, this is not something that can be ignored.

Summary
BYOD is here to stay. The 'phablet' (phone and tablet in one device) is widely rumoured to be the next big thing. As the adoption of tools like these increases (my parents now have iPhones and iPads!), companies engaged in BPM need to look at this and understand what are the synergies and benefits of allowing BYOD.

Allowing people to use their own devices (if they want) to do things they might not, otherwise have done, can only be a benefit.

Are you allowing BYOD in relation to BPM? What are the results?

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Reminder: 'The Perfect Process Project Second Edition' is now available. Don't miss the chance to get this valuable insight into how to make business processes work for you. Click this link and follow the instructions to get this book.

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10 BPM blogs you should be following (2013 version)

Back in 2010 I wrote a blog post called 10 BPM Blogs you should be following.

Looking back on my stats it is still one of the most viewed posts I have written.

What I wanted to do today was to update the list of the folks I read on a regular basis to make sure you are linking in to the best.

There have been a number of changes in this list and they basically, fall into two categories:

1) Lack of Updates - If you're not updating your web site you probably shouldn't be on this list
2) Low quality updates - If you're updating but your content isn't worth reading then you shouldn't be on this list.

So, without further ado, here is the updated list. (oh, and there's 11 on this list now...)

• Bruce Silver: Bruce is the daddy of BPMN, has been in the business for years and knows BPMN like the back of his hand (he should do - he helped write it)
• Jim Sinur: He's been with Global360 and Gartner and he is the industry analyst for the BPM sector. His writing is often formal and rigid, but that doesn't take away from the value of his contents.
• Theo Priestley: He's the Process Maverick, always ready to try and upset the applecart when it comes to BPM. When he talks it pays to listen to what he's saying
• Sandy Kemsley: One of only two women on the list (which is a discussion point in itself). She attends and presents a lot at BPM conferences around the world and always has some useful insight into the latest movements in the BPM market. Her blog is 'Column 2'
• The Process Ninja: He's Australian based and blogs about real-life applications of process. I look forward to his posts.
• Connie Moore: The Forrester analyst for BPM and the other woman on the list. Finger on the pulse, covers the industry and the general BPM environment.
• Bouncing Thoughts - Jaisundar from Stanford on BPM, CRM and CPM.
• Ashish Bhagwat - Posts on BPM at The Eclectic Zone
• Keith Swenson - writes thoughtful and informative posts on BPM and ACM (adaptive case management) that often inspire long conversations in the comments, and manages to do so without pushing his own company's products
• Alberto Manuel - If it's pure BPM research you're looking for, Alberto's your man.
• BP3 Blog - Scott Francis posts regular updates on BPM and associated topics.

If you were in the original list, but have dropped out, don't worry. It happened to me last year when one of my BPM blogging colleagues dropped me from his list. Don't take it to heart, but have a look at what you might want to do to update your blog.

Enjoy!

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Priorities, priorities...

It occurred to me recently that I haven’t asked a question of my readers for a while - one that will provoke some conversation, I mean.

Obviously there are different forums that these conversations can take place - and if you want to do so, please continue those there and link to them in the comments so I can follow along.

My question today is focused on all those people who have responsibility for process (process definition, process management, process implementation etc. - in whatever form you wish to define it - Case Management, Workflow, BPM etc)

What is your main process priority this year? (and why?)

Potential answers could include (but are not limited to):

• Understanding process gaps.
• Defining process owners.
• Documenting my processes.
• Rationalising my current process inventory.
• Getting senior management commitment for process change.

I’m interested to understand what people are focusing on this year.

If you feel like indicating how or if this has changed since last year, please do.

Thank you.
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Reminder: 'The Perfect Process Project Second Edition' is now available. Don't miss the chance to get this valuable insight into how to make business processes work for you. Click this link and follow the instructions to get this book.

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  See related info below