After BPM, what is next?

Posted on February 26, 2010 by kswenson

Next Wednesday, March 3rd, we will be giving a webinar on Adaptive Case Management. I have mentioned this subject a couple of times in recent posts, as new technology area. Advancements have provided ways to support increasingly sophisticated types of work. Initially, very simple work tasks with productivity software, advancing to more sophisticated work processes with workflow and BPM, but never before has there been wide adoption of of technology to support Knowledge Work. Continue reading →

Chasing Rabbits with BPM

Posted on January 25, 2010 by kswenson

“Chasing the Rabbit” by Steven J Spear is a book about what he calls high velocity organizations. Velocity is equated with success because these companies have the agility to respond and capture business. It is not just speed. These organizations are able to capture quality.

I was interested because someone had told me this was the secret to highly reliable organizations. The book covers in detail the US Navy nuclear program which has 5700 reactor years of use without a single nuclear mishap. Continue reading →

It is All Taylor’s Fault

Posted on January 8, 2010 by kswenson

The Industrial Revolution brought about mass production of parts and products. The concept behind mass production is: break the job into a series of well defined components (interchangeable parts), and set up to produce those parts in large quantities to get economy of scale. Millions of identical parts can bring the price down of a completed product. The cost of setting up a factory is high, but is recouped through small savings multiplied by many instances.

Fredrick Winslow Taylor applied these mass production ideas to work and called it “Scientific Management“. Continue reading →

4 Process Trends & 1 Gap

Posted on December 2, 2009 by kswenson

So much buzz about a new emerging category of process technology. Analysts and vendors alike are talking about it, using a variety of different names: Case Management, Unstructured Processes, Human Coordination Technology, Human Interaction Management, Smart Case Management, Dynamic Process, etc. I helped lead a Thought Leader Summit meeting on this topic in November Continue reading →

Kanban for Software Development

Posted on November 22, 2009 by kswenson

Last Wednesday I got a full scale indoctrination into the agile software development methodology called Kanban, loosly based on the Toyota Production System (TPS) mechanism with the same name. Toyota uses the kanban as a mechanism to allow for just the right amount of parts to be ordered and to be delivered just in time (JIT) in order to avoid overproduction and waste in the production line. Kanban Software Development Methodology (KSDM) brings the same lean ideas to a development team. Continue reading →

Interstage BPM Version 11 & Cloud

Posted on November 19, 2009 by kswenson

Fujitsu made a couple of press releases last week, announcing two things: a new release of Interstage BPM, Version 11, and our Cloud BPM offering. This post just contains links to articles on the subject of these announcements.

Product Review: Interstage BPM V11 – Column 2
Fujitsu Interstage BPM in the Cloud – Column 2
Fujitsu BPM Cloud Challenges IBM, Oracle in Cloud Computing – Channel Insider
Fujitsu fields BPM on cloud computing platform – Search SOA
Fujitsu Announces Free Access to Enhanced Cloud BPM Platform – Enterprise Systems
Fujitsu Cracks BPM Auto Discovery Code – CTO Edge
Auto-Discovery Comes to BPM – IT Business Edge
Fujitsu releases new version of Interstage BPM Captures hybrid collaborative process patterns – CBR
Fujitsu Interstage BPM Version 11, Lets Businesses Proactively “Sense and Respond” to Change – SOA World
Fujitsu Announces Free Access to its Enhanced Cloud BPM Platform for Solution Providers and Enterprise Teams – EBizQ
Process intelligence tools reduce guesswork, increase payout of BPM – Search CIO Midmarket
Process intelligence tools reduce guesswork, increase payout of BPM – a writeup on the use of Process Discovery at ESI.
Fujitsu gives BPM users a helping hand – article by David Worthington at SD Times.

While there are many small features in the Version 11 release, the two main ones are a significantly extended capabilities in Dynamic BPM and extended tenant management capabilities. The latter feature helps to support the extended cloud BPM offering which includes a complete BPM design, development, and run-time capability which is free for small teams.

Errors & Learning Opportunities

Posted on November 12, 2009 by kswenson

This button in this situation produces an error report … therefor the button should be disabled.

I question this line of reasoning. I have observed this reasoning used at all levels, from programmers, to UI designers, to Product managers, and even to customers (users) themselves. The goal seems to be “protect the user from error messages”. Some people naively think Continue reading →

Taiichi Ohno Reinterpreted

Posted on October 24, 2009 by kswenson

Taiichi Ohno is credited with the creation of the Toyota just-in-time production system, and his book “Toyota Production System: Beyond Large Scale Production” is a surprisingly good read even today when many of these principles are considered well established.

My interest was in understanding how this philosophy applies to Agile/Lean Software Development. Continue reading →

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