Why Modellers Wreck Workflow Innovations

Abstract

Why did ten modelers spend over a year mapping and charting business processes, and why did the workflow project still fail? Questions like this form the mortar that builds the nightmares of business managers into a brick wall that blocks successful innovations. In this chapter we discuss an approach that has demonstrated to innovate processes successfully by avoiding known pitfalls and risks. We focus on the practical questions, such as:

• how can you tell in advance whether a model will help?

• in which situations do users benefit from your models, and what can you do about it?

• when is it useful to use your workflow model for documentation purposes?

• spend plenty of time to find out how to achieve your innovation goals with the help of business process models, but don’t spend a long time choosing your modelling technique.

Available evidence suggests that not the modeling techniques as such are to blame, but the way of working that modelers employ in practice. On the experience gathered in workflow projects, carried out in the financial and government sectors, we have built a framework for business process innovations that puts modeling in perspective and has shown to achieve results for the business.