The Process Ninja

Linking Process, Procedures & Business Requirements to Successful Customer Outcomes - a Business Analyst Guide

"Go out to the business and gather their requirements!"

How many times do we hear this said? 

When I hear this being it immediately fills me with dread; images of men in suits wandering through dark forests without maps, looking for mushrooms...needles in haystacks and the like (you get the idea...)

What generally happens in these situations is that business analysts go away and do just that - gather requirements - what the business thinks they want. Typically what this results in is a giant rambling document written in a pseudo business / IT speak that the business say they can't read and the IT guys say isn't detailed enough for them to build from. So the BA goes away and creates a functional spec which the IT guys love, but by this point in time it has morphed so far from what the business want, they have a heart attack when they see the final product!

"That's not what we wanted!" they say!

"But that's what you told us!" say the BA's and IT guys!

It doesn't have to be this hard. Here's how you do it:

1. Define the successful customer outcome(s)

What is it that the customer really needs? What does the business need to do to meet those needs?

2. Define the process scope

Establish what the process actually is from the customer's perspective - current state (if a current state exists!). Don't take the business's word for it - their interpretation of what a process is may be radically different to yours. Document the process at a high level (e.g. SIPOC) - confirm with the business. Tick in box from business? 

3. Define the current process

Proceed to document the process at a task level. Don't waste too much time on the as-is if you are going to change the process! Photos of sticky notes on a wall is sufficient. Tick in box from business?

4. Improve the process / define new process

List all the tasks in the current process and eliminate or improve tasks focussing on the outcomes required. If a new process, sticky note the tasks required to achieve the outcomes required with the minimal amount of activities. Don't just consider "sunny day processes" where everything goes right - consider everything that can go wrong! Look at the paths from every business rule in your process! Consider all process permutations!

5. Link Process Tasks to Procedural Steps

For each task, create procedural steps - how and why each process step is done rather than what is done. This can be done very simply in a spreadsheet ( For example my Process Ninja Workbook that utilises the CEM Method). What's more, you can then spit it into a procedural document for your staff to use for training and day-to-day operational procedures.

6. Link Procedural Detail to Business Requirements

The procedural detail helps to create a granular level of detail that greatly benefits the creation of specific requirements.  It forces the analyst to think of all possible permutations and options - it forces them to think in the context of the real world, not a gobbledegook business requirements document.

7. Link Business requirements to test scenarios

Use procedural detail and business requirements together to develop test scenarios and use cases - IT can then use these for their unit testing then they can be re-used for user testing. Easy.

8. Build it. Iteratively.

Presuming that there is actually an IT solution involved (and let's face it, there usually is), it's best to adopt an iterative (agile) approach where there are short development cycles with high business involvement. I have seen too many waterfall development disasters in my time.

So in eight steps a Business or Process Analyst can create complete traceability from the customer outcomes to the delivery.

It's not really that hard, but isn't it amazing that so many people can make it seem that way?

Cheers,

TPN

Don't waste time on the AS-IS

One of the biggest wastes of time in the world of process is the excessive attention paid to the AS-IS state. Now before you scream and shout at me and call me a process heretic, I would like to add that I think looking at the as-is is essential. I have seen organisations that have skipped to the to-be state and it is nothing short of disastrous.

What I have an issue with are organisations spending vast amounts of man hours documenting as-is process in detail. Unless the as-is state is felt to be close to being optimised already, spending time documenting it in detail is a bit like writing a book then burning it.

When you know you are going to be improving a process, don't waste time on the as-is - do a workshop with stakeholders to define and agree the process, but there is no need to waste time documenting or modelling it. Taking a photo of the agreed process is sufficient.

What will separate you from the herd is moving to the improvement phase as rapidly as you can and delivering change which will bring business benefits - not creating more useless documents.

Cheers,

TPN

Video: Carphone Warehouse's Success with Process

Sometimes it's really hard to be a process guy. Sometimes the doubters and the non-believers get to you. Sometimes it all seems too hard. Then, just when you are about to lose hope, along comes a video like this one to remind you why you love process so much and what it really can achieve...

Cheers,

TPN

Have You Met Holocentric?

I've recently become acquainted with Australian based BPM software vendors Holocentric. If you haven't heard of them you should have. I've had some basic training in the system and I have to say I'm fairly impressed with the depth of the product.

There are two main parts to the Holocentric product - one is the modeller which is where you build your processes. Like all good BPM products it provides the ability to set properties for objects, link and re-use process data to create a holistic approach to BPM. The second part is Modelpedia which is essentially a collaboration tool for discussion around the published models. I'm not an expert in the system (but I will be soon!) but I am already getting fairly excited about the possibilities of using it. For those out there stuck using tools like visio it is a quantum leap to use a tool like Holocentric.

If you are keen to find out more there are some very informative videos on their website.

I've met Holocentric and I like it - maybe you will too...

- TPN

UML Must Die

One of the few things in this world that causes me to break into a cold sweat is UML.

UML stands for "Unified Modelling Language" and by the mere fact that it mentions the word "language" you can understand that is is a tool deeply loved by those up to their armpits in RAM, ROM and other technical pleasures. Like most things evil in the world of process it crawled out of an engineering environment - this time a software one.

Quite simply UML needs to crawl back up the cavity it came from. I'm sure there are software engineers out there that worship it, but when it comes to process it needs to die a quick death. The reason for this is quite simple - no-one understands it. No, not me, not the enterprise architects, not the BA's and above all else the business certainly do not understand it. And if we fail with the business's understanding of THEIR OWN PROCESS, we simply fail altogether.

If you want to create cohesive, understandable processes that will give the business confidence in your ability; keep it simple, keep it clear, keep it concise and keep well clear of UML.

- TPN

Don't Talk the Process - Walk the Process

There are so many ways to gather information these days that it's easy for us to get lost in the detail. When it comes to looking at and understanding processes we have the same challenge - how to wade through that sea of information and data to find the truth.

The short answer is that you will never understand everything and you shouldn't expect to. It is ridiculous for us as process analysts to walk onto a project and set about trying to learn every piece of information on a subject that has taken years to create and which sits within the heads of numerous subject matter experts. To quote a sage friend of mine, we need to take the approach of "how much do you need to know to know that you know enough".

Whilst workshops can have value, and depth interviews, well, add depth, I am a great fan of walking the process. This involves very simply following the flow of information through the process - walking to each person or department and asking them to take me through their work. Info will always disappear into systems and pop out somewhere else, but we can still follow that too.

What walking the process achieves for me is to build a visual picture of flows in my head. It also helps me to build relationships with the staff involved in the process and to explain what I am trying to achieve. There is something about walking the process that helps the staff to build a sense of trust and to speak openly about the work they perform and the issues they face. Putting the same staff in a workshop environment creates a totally different set of group dynamics where staff may not be so open with their thoughts.

So as a starting point do not underestimate the power of walking the process. It's an ideal first step.

ARIS Express Released Today - Do We Care?

The full version of ARIS Express is released today. You can download it at: http://www.ariscommunity.com/aris-express

It's advertised as the "world's first BPM tool" - I'm sure it isn't but it's a catchy strapline right enough.

The question is - do we care? Who exactly are ARIS expecting to use this product? It's obviously designed to be a visio killer, but without swimlanes it's a toothless tiger. So Visio users won't switch to it, ARIS users won't use it as they already have the full blown version and it's arguably too complex for small business owners to get their head around.

I can somewhat understand the marketing strategy - get those using visio to switch to ARIS express as it saves them some money - they'll like the product and then eventually upgrade to big boy's ARIS...and pay lots of money...or will they?

Answers on a postcard, please.

- TPN

Will ARIS Express be a Microsoft Visio Killer?

At ProcessDays 2009 I found out about a new (Free) ARIS product called ARIS Express. ARIS Express is essentially a very cut-down version of the full ARIS version designed to compete with Microsoft Visio. As a regular user of Visio I was keen to have a look at ARIS Express to see how it compares.

I should point out that ARIS Express is currently in Beta mode, so I'm not going to be too harsh on them with this review - I'm sure there is more development to come. I certainly hope so...I should also point out that I have never used ARIS so I'm an ideal guinea pig to test how easy or hard it is to switch from Visio to ARIS Express!

So, how does it stack up? Well, the interface is certainly lovely - nice colours, a small but useful array of process models. It is basic but has enough to satisfy most basic users. There is no doubt that you can create some nice looking process models with it and pick up how to use it fairly quickly. It's a little bit clunky in terms of use - for example, not being able to drag and drop shapes. The Fragments feature is nice (where you can save groups of shapes together for future use) and there are a few useful export options (although PDF export did not work for me).

Where I can see great value for ARIS Express is for small and medium businesses who do not have the capital to purchase BPM software. However, these small businesses are unlikely to ever upgrade to one of ARIS's paid solutions (surely IDS Scheer's underlying marketing strategy?) so while this is good for them I don't see IDS benefitting from it.

My main concern with ARIS Express is that if it is designed to compete with Visio then there is a certain amount of functionality that it needs to have. I can fully understand why IDS Scheer don't want to give too much away, but at this stage I don't feel that ARIS Express has quite enough functionality to compete with Visio.

The main reason for this is ARIS Express's inability to display processes in swim lanes.

Like them or lump them swim lanes are more common than a cup of tea and are a fundamental part of most organisations' process mapping. If only ARIS Express had this functionality then I really believe it would be in a position to compete.

As it stands it's a case of "close, but no cigar"...

- TPN

Process Days 2009 - Reflections & Highlights

I was lucky enough to attend Process Days 2009 this week. I attended some of the masterclasses and most of the two day conference. Overall I really enjoyed the experience - I met a lot of great process people, learned a bunch and was inspired, awed and somewhat depressed by the whole experience!

I have to say it was also a great experience to meet the guys from Leonardo Consulting - a nicer bunch of people you could not wish to meet!

At the conference there were some truely brilliant presentations (and if truth be told a few truely awful ones) but there were three presenters that really stood out for me:

- Alec Sharp. Alec is a process modelling guru and gave one of the most highly useful and practical presentations that I've ever seen. He is a brilliantly charasmatic presenter with the ability to keep everything simple (even when on the phone from Vancouver!). I'm going out to buy his book as soon as I can. In just a few slides he changed how I thought about process modelling forever.

- Professor Michael Rosemann. Prof R works at the Queensland University of Technology where he runs the http://www.bpm.fit.qut.edu.au/ - however this alone doesn't encompass all of his work - he is one of the world's best BPM gurus. He gave a few different presentations - all brilliant - and I recommend you look into some of his works and books.

- Joerg Kluckmann. Joerg is the Marketing Dude from Aris and he gave a brilliant presentation on New Generation Process Inteligence (including a fascinating presentation which included Football!) Some of the stuff that IDS Scheer are working on is really exciting. They are launching a new free Aris product (Aris Express) as well as an Aris "MashupZone". Check out the IDS Scheer website for more details.

Overall Process days was a great event and has really given me a huge amount of inspiration to keep spreading the BPM message. On the other hand I felt a little bit depressed and envious when I saw some of the big BPM initiatives that people are involved with at the moment and some of the cool software tools they are using to do it. I live in hope that I will soon get the opportunity to test myself in one of these organisations!

This is just a taster of what I experienced of Process Days 2009 and it has helped to stimulate a maelstrom of ideas in my little Ninja brain that I'll look forward to sharing with you over the coming weeks and months. Until then I encourage you to investigate some of the previous links in more detail and should you require any further details on Process Days, check out the Leonardo Consulting website.

Till then, keep spreading the BPM message.

- TPN

Process Tip - Make process diagrams look the part

Whatever tool you use to map processes, take your time and make it look good and easy to understand. If your process diagram looks like a plate of spaghetti you’ll quickly find it assigned to the “too hard basket”. Make use of templates and make sure that your diagrams all have a consistent “look and feel”. Where possible make yo ur process maps “interactive”; link them to documents, templates, web pages, intranets, etc. so that they become “living” documents that define the way you do things rather than the kind of 2 dimensional, grey images you find posted on an obscure page on your intranet (last updated in 1999).