For the record, I am not a big fan of the buzz term “Social BPM” but there is no denying that is capturing a lot of mind-share in recent weeks.  Still, I am looking forward to the Social BPM TweetJam in tomorrow, on July 21, 11:45 Eastern time, and here is a refresher on recent posts on the topic.

• If you haven’t already, you really should read Marco Brambilla’s excellent post “Social BPM: motivation and impact on the BPM lifecycle.”  He enumerates 7 different objectives for using social technology.  I particularly like his diagram on the various ways that social technology can mix with the BPM lifecycle — the diagram contributes at least 1000 words:
  
  Like the blind men and the elephant, people talking about Social BPM are often talking about completely different goals and effects, without any contradiction.  This map should help keep the discussions straight.
•  Chris Taylor asks whether “Is social BPM the end of focused expertise?”  I think the answer is “no” because social technology in general is not about replacing anyone, and more about linking expertise that exists.  The ability to find and leverage expertise will, I believe, allow for narrower and deeper focused expertise, not less.
• Chris Taylor follows this up with “Is social the end of top-down management?” another excellent question and discussion. My feeling is that social technology will have a substantial transformative effect on management.
• Jim Sinur steps into the discussion with “Social BPM Requires Balance and Flexibility.”  He critiques the IT folks for wanting to predefine everything according to predictable rules, and recognizes that unpredictability has to be supported as well.  He sees Social BPM as an overarching approach that balances both predictable and unpredictable.
• Jim Sinur also asks “Social BPM is Design by Doing: Really?” harkening back to an earlier discussion.
• Peter Schooff asked for a discussion on “What is the secret to successful social BPM?” and some good posts in there.
• Clay Richardson made a post on “Is Social BPM A Methodology, A Technology, Or Just A Lot Of Hype?” all the way back in May 2010.
• In the academic world, there has been a series of workshops on “BPM and Social Software” every year, co-located with the BPM conferece, last year in Hoboken NJ, and coming up this August in Clermont-Ferrand, France.  There are always a lot of relevant papers published there.
• Sandy Kemsley has covered the BPMS2 workshops better than anywhere else in her blog. Here is a link to her presentation on Social BPM from last year.
• Marco Brambilla anticipates the TweetJam in a post “The rising sun of Social BPM – upcoming TweetJam“
• Appian jumps on the bandwagon with “Realizing the Promise of BPM Software: Forrester Says Social BPM Extends Process Participation“
• Is it the same thing as ACM?  I made this post last year on “15 Social Requirements for ACM” showing at least a large overlap.
• Marco Brambilla made a post “The continuum of Social BPM” where he outlines levels of adoption of social technology in the BPM space.
• Max Pucher in a post in “The Social BPM Handbook 2011” says that “BPM is in my mind the opposite of empowerment. Therefore I see a huge gap between BPM and Social.”  Actually, that is why I prefer using separate terms for BPM and ACM.  He has many other posts that are worth browsing on related topics.
• Thomas Olbrich contributes “Successful social BPM – start talking“concluding that there is more hype than matter.

Here is a link to Information about the TweetJam.   Clay Richardson will be leading the discussion, and most of the authors of “Social BPM: Work, Planning and Collaboration Under the Impact of Social Technology” will be participating.  In order to participate, all you need to do is search/follow the hashtag #SocialBPM on July 21 starting at 11:45 Eastern time, and be prepared to ask questions.

Among the hot topics to be discussed:

• What does “Social BPM” mean?
• What are the key trends for Social BPM?
• Who in an organization should care about Social BPM? Why?
• What are some specific examples of Social BPM?
• How are social tools like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Foursquare impacting professionals and organizations?
• What is the primary benefit that an enterprise gets by using Social BPM? How about a manager?
• How do you measure success in a Social BPM implementation?
• What are some best practices for getting started with Social BPM?