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New Features in November

Geary Rummler
Who would have expected that two of the leading business process gurus would die within such a short period of time. Michael Hammer died on September 3rd and on October 29th, Dr. Geary Rummler died. Geary began his career at the University of Michigan in the early Sixties and then went on to manage several consulting companies focused on analyzing and improving human performance. He is best known as the co-author of Improving Performance: How to Manage the White Space on the Organization Chart, which was first published in 1990. He was the founder of the Rummler-Brache Group and at the time of his death was the Managing Director of the Performance Design Lab. Unlike Hammer, who was a popular public speaker who got people excited about the need for process change, Rummler was the analysts' analyst. He was best in small groups where he could bring his extensive knowledge of organizational change to bear on specific problems. Two generations of process analysts owe their overall understanding of process problems to Rummler's systematic approach to process analysis and performance improvement. BPTrends readers will miss his BPTrends Column and we will miss his sound advice and support as a member of our Board of Advisors. It's hard to believe he will no longer be around to provide the kind of wise insight into complex problems that only he could provide. He was a good friend and respected colleague and will be missed by all who knew him.

SOA Methodologies for Process Oriented Implementation — A Survey
Jan Ricker, an expert in Strategic Business Process Management, has created a survey on SOA Methodologies for Process Oriented Implementation as a part of his PhD thesis. This academic research survey is estimated to take fifteen minutes to complete and is posted on the researcher's website until November 30, 2008. Jan will compile and analyze the data from the survey and BPTrends will publish his executive summary in Q1 of 2009. To participate in this survey, click on the following link: http://freeonlinesurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=i7ms4zl772o6uyx453925.

Upcoming Conferences and Events
BPTrends will be presenting and participating in the following events:
  • Evolve 2008 - IT and Business Alignment Forum, Las Vegas, Nov 10-13, 2008. Co-produced by IIR and BPTrends.
Be sure to check out the complete BPM Events Calendar. View Calendar

BPTrends Monthly Email Advisors
BPM in a Tight Economy - November 11, 2008
Clearly, most companies are preparing for a recession in 2009. For some, this means cutting travel and training budgets. For others, it means reevaluating or eliminating major programs. In this Advisor we consider how BPM is likely to fare in the months ahead.
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How Did Toyota Do It? - November 25, 2008
Just after World War II when Taiichi Ohno first started working at Toyota, he was told it took 9 Japanese workers to do what a single US worker could do in the same period of time. Ohno set out to change all that and we are all familiar with the results. In the past quarter, Toyota, which was already the most efficient and most profitable auto company in the world, became the world's largest producer of automobiles. In this Advisor, we briefly consider how Toyota managed to achieve this position.
BPTrends Spotlight
Business Rules and Business Processes - November 18, 2008
This month, we turn the BPTrends Spotlight on Articles that consider the use of Business Rules, and, more particularly, on how Business Rules can be used in conjunction with business process analysis efforts.
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Columns
Extreme Competition: BPM - The Battleground States
Reporting from the battle ground state of Florida, Peter Fingar argues, with, in his words, "a little sprinkle of election verbiage and satire," that staying the course with command-and-control functional management can lead to disaster in these turbulent economic times. He prescribes, instead, agility, an attribute of the BPM approach that can make organizations more adaptable to the ups and downs of the current economy. Whether you tend red or blue, read Peter's Column for a refreshing relief from the news of the day.
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Innovation: A Simple Approach to Accelerating Innovation
Victor Howard and Clay Richardson wanted to address the subject of Innovation and SOA, so they sought the expertise of a colleague, Puspendu Pal, who is the Lead Architect for Project Performance Corporation's Business Process Improvement Practice. Their efforts resulted in a compelling argument for applying a top-down rather than a bottom-up approach to implementing a SOA framework. Read their Column for the details.
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BPM and SOA
Collaboration is a much discussed topic these days, but what does it mean? Most of the capabilities we see in collaboration have to do with the user experience. So how do we incorporate collaboration into enterprise business processes? In his Column this month, Mike Rosen addresses this issue, and shows how SOA can be used to accomplish it.
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Articles
Pursuit of the Perfect Order: Telecommunications Industry Perspective.
Fierce competition within the telecommunications industry requires that market players make their systems more effective, flexible, and scalable to efficiently manage an increasingly complex product portfolio. Aman Gupta describes this as a multi-dimensional problem requiring optimized processes, accurate operational data, and integrated solutions. In this illuminating Article, he analyzes the various challenges faced by telecom companies and suggests how these challenges can be addressed.
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Configurable Process Models: How to Adopt Standard Practices in Your Own Way
Marcello La Rosa and Marlon Dumas ask, "How do you model business processes that are similar to one another in many ways, yet differ in some other ways from one organization, project, or industry to another?" In response to this question, in this Article they discuss the potential benefits of configurable process models and introduce a method and a toolset for process design based on configurable process models.
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Inside the Process Box
Fred Nickols suggests you set aside your "outside the box" thinking and consider what's "inside the box" in the process diagram. He believes that what lies inside can be useful in figuring out how to improve the performance of people and processes. Read his Article for a set of diagnostic questions and useful guidelines for anyone seeking to analyze and understand problems of non-performance.
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From Staffs Conducting Programs to Line Managers Solving Problems
James Womack describes a scenario that he frequently encounters when visiting organizations where Lean Programs have existed for several years. He is often asked by team members why their successful Lean initiatives don't translate to bottom line improvement. This Article is a must read for any and all who have been involved in Lean programs.
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Book Review
Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins by Annette Simmons
This book describes how presenters can use stories to make their presentations much more effective. The book offers an explanation of the role stories play in communication and a series of exercises to help readers become adept at generating powerful stories on their own. Our reviewer, Paul Harmon, who gives lots of presentations, was hugely impressed by the book and plans to try to make good use of this powerful tool in his future presentations.
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