What BPM can learn from a Checklist

It's only fitting that I pay homage to the title of Keith Swenson's "What BPM can learn from a Spreadsheet" posting... for it is Keith's "Is the Checklist mightier than the Model?" that led me to today's musings.

The world is a mess.  We're barraged with too much information and too many things to do.  Lots and lots of stuff falls through cracks every day, and it's only getting worse.  We need help.

Help can come in many forms, and one of those forms is technology... specifically Process Management technology.  We can build Automated Process Managers (APMs) that can keep track of things for us.  Tell the APMs what it is that needs to be done, and they can remind us to do those things, remind others if we don't do what we were supposed to do, etc.

Automated Process Managers can "Save the World".

The fly in the ointment is that the APMs can't help us do anything unless we tell the APMs what it is that we need to be doing... and that's where Checklists come in.

Checklists are really, really easy to create.  Just list all of the things that you need to do.  Piece of cake.

Home Improvement Project Checklist:

• Create Wishlist
• Determine Budget
• Select Architect
• Rough Sketch Plans
• Select Builder
• Initial Cost Estimate
• Revise Plans per Budget
• Construction Plans
• Approve Final Budget
• Start Construction

If you want to get fancy, you can even add a "Must complete by" date to each task on your list, and you might even indicate "Who" should do each task... What could be simpler?

Often times you'll have some tasks on your list that are more important than other items on your list - So you'll want to order them by priority... Work on these first (if you can).

One in awhile you will have tasks on your list that cannot be started until other tasks have been completed... and sometimes you will have tasks that cannot be completed until other tasks have been completed... Just add some arrows to your list as reminders.

Hmmm... Looks like your Checklist ended up as a Process Model:

Who says that BPM has to be hard?

Back to "Saving the World"...  It's time to stop futzing around and to start doing.
Start making those Checklists for every single Process that your Business relies on and hand them over to an APM.  When it makes sense to do so, take the extra time to order and arrange and define dependencies... But don't use that as an excuse to keep you from getting an APM to Manage all of the things that can be Managed now.

The World needs Saving.