Thanks for asking!
The biggest challenge is distilling 50 years of combined consulting knowledge and experiences into 3 days of practical activities so that you leave ready to get results.
Here’s what we came up with:
Detailed list of topics
· Thinking in process terms – concepts, terminology, principles, and techniques
· Variations on what is meant by “process,” and the impact on process identification
· Three guidelines for well-formed processes
· What makes a process a “business process?
· Real-world impacts of incorrectly identifying business processes
· A clear method for determining when one business process ends, and another begins
· Example – using this method in identifying “true” business processes
· Summary – five rules for business processes
· Impact of process identification for application and process architects
· A brief history of “business processes” – the rise, fall, and rise again of “BPx”
· Hammer’s legacy – understanding functional and process perspective
· The good and the bad, part 1: Why functionally-based organizations are a good thing
· The good and the bad, part 2: Why functionally-based organizations introduce process difficulties
· Reconciling the two – philosophies and methods for helping functions and processes get along
· Introduction to modeling techniques – when to use decomposition, when to use flow diagrams
· What makes for an effective “swimlane diagram?”
· A five tier framework for relating business objectives, processes, applications, and data Modeling techniques for each perspective
· Achieving progressive levels of detail – working through scope, concept, and specification levels
· Understanding the six enablers of a business process
· A three-phase approach to completing a process-oriented project
· A reading list
· Discovering your enterprise’s business processes
· “Process areas” – families of related business processes
· Depicting process areas with an “overall process map” or “process landscape”
· The role of standard process areas such as “Customer Relationship Management”
· Why top-down process identification often leads to incorrect results
· A bottom-up method for process discovery
· Beginning your analysis by clarifying terminology – a structured approach
· Introduction to the major case study
· Hands-on practice with process discovery – team work and group debrief
· Framing the process – scope, issues, and goals
· A critical concept in all business analysis – separating the “what” from the “who and how”
· Four components of the “what” scope definition – the essence of the process
· Three components of the “who and how” scope definition – the current implementation
· Tips for ensuring you haven’t defined the process smaller than it really is
· Case study – hands on practice with documenting process scope
· Initial assessment of the “as-is” process and goal-setting for the “to-be” process
· A compelling and blame-free format for the case for action, and methods for communicating it
· Clarifying strategic direction – the process “differentiator”
· Case study – hands on practice with process assessment and goal specification
· Workflow models – techniques for modeling process workflow
· Components and terminology in workflow models (“swimlane diagrams”)
· The most common errors in workflow modeling – missing the point, “deception by sanitization,” and a rapid descent into detail
· Avoiding errors with three questions to drive the development of your initial swimlane diagram
· A real-life example of applying the three questions
· Principles and guidelines – making your models useful, and knowing when not to model
· Guidelines for actors – who or what can or cannot be an actor on a swimlane diagram,
· Guidelines for steps – naming, multi-actor, and sequential, parallel, and collaborative steps
· Guidelines for flow – what that arrow really means, common errors, parallel vs. exclusive flows
· Representing the basic concepts in BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation)
· Additional symbols, keeping it simple
· Managing detail – controlling the detail of your models, knowing when to stop
· Real-life example – why detail must be managed
· Controlling detail – three levels of workflow model (handoff, service, and task)
· Definition, use, and example of each of the three levels
· Business modeling vs. specification modeling, and the problems with being too precise
· When to stop – how to know when you’ve crossed the line and aren’t modeling workflow anymore
· Making the transition to use cases, procedures, and task specifications
· Techniques for facilitating an as-is workflow modeling session
· The basics – participants, resources, and tools
· Facilitated session ground rules – specifics for “process” sessions
· Tips and guidelines to ensure you’ll actually get through the process
· A reminder – the three questions to drive your initial “handoff level” workflow model
· After the initial pass – five questions to validate and extend the model
· Case study – hands on practice with developing the initial workflow model
· Progressing to further levels of detail
· Tips for designing the to-be process
· Three common redesign problems, three techniques to avoid them
· Final assessment of the as-is process – a framework for assessment and its role in redesign
· Surfacing and challenging assumptions – using a “challenge session” to generate improvements
· Characterizing the to-be process – generating creative improvements
· Uncovering unanticipated consequences – using an enabler-based assessment to avoid problems and understand the requirements for process change
· Factors to make the new process sustainable
· Creating the new workflow – turning the to-be characteristics into a workflow mode
· Review of selected work products from a structured assessment; a quest for the secret sauce
· Lean Speak 101 – Knowledge Work Version
· 7 Principles for improving flow of knowledge work
· Waste in knowledge work
· Flow – definition and anatomy
· Enablers and flow
· Barriers to flow – recognizing patterns that frequently occur in knowledge work
· Waste and flow
· Measures of flow – lead time, cycle time, value-creating time; rolled throughput yield, productivity
· Assessing flow- “where to look, and what to watch for”
· Simulation-Hands on Practice in finding and eliminating barriers to flow and quantifying the related business improvement results
