The Leonardo Blog

You could be forgiven for thinking that some conversations among the processerati have more to do with cliché management than process management. Our language can be obscure and our meanings cloaked in layers of obfuscation. If we are to achieve the levels of organizational performance breakthrough that we know are possible via process-based management, we need to pick up our game.

The only way any organisation delivers value to a customer is via a business process. This article will explore practical issues around process-based management. What makes it work? Why does it fail? How do we sell the idea? An Hypothesis I believe there is a finite set of compelling reasons for BPM; for adopting process-based management--a relatively small number of persuasive arguments from which every person and organisation draws. Every organisation that adopts a process-based management approach does so because one or more of these reasons resonates with its circumstances. The set of causal reasons is quite small. What if we agreed on what the reasons are and developed a rich and powerful body of knowledge about them? In this scenario, each reason would be comprehensively explained and supported by case studies, elevator speeches, stories, presentations, FAQs and other education and communication resources. If we had such a resource, would it be easier to change individual and organisational mindsets to the process view?

Creating a BPA is not a trivial exercise, and since it will always be subject to change and the exploration of greater detail, it is a never-ending job. Nevertheless a useful, working BPA can be developed in a few months and the immediate value of doing so can be remarkable. Quite apart from creating a solid basis for effective ongoing process management, discovery of the BPA focuses the organization wonderfully on really understanding how it executes its strategic intent. This article details why Business Process Architecture is crucial as a strategic and operational management tool.

Every organisation exists to deliver value (products, services or something less tangible) to ‘customers’ and other stakeholders. However strategic intent is defined, it is about delivering value both ‘outside’ (customers, suppliers, regulators, community etc.) and ‘inside’ (staff, shareholders, partners, franchisees etc.). We traditionally manage via the organisation chart, yet no entity shown on that chart can, by itself, deliver external value. In reality, we create, accumulate and deliver value by collaborating across the organisation. While resources are managed vertically with the organisation chart; value is created and delivered horizontally via the process architecture.

Everybody signs up for continuous improvement. The other side of that coin is that in order to continuously improve, we must be continuously finding things that are not working as well as they might. That may not sit as comfortably; it might be quite challenging to be proactively uncovering problems. If process improvement activity is to deliver its maximum benefit, we must be continuously discovering problems—and their causes, and finding new opportunities—and the constraints on their realization. The fabled directive “Don't tell me about problems, tell me about solutions” may not be so useful after all1. No problem? That could be the biggest problem.