This document discusses symptoms that indicate whether business processes are functioning well ("process chill") or poorly ("process kill"). Some key symptoms of process kill are unclear responsibilities and authorities, a focus on functional measurements rather than cross-functional value chains, and processes being documented according to individual functions rather than enterprise-wide. The document advocates for defining processes based on activities and deliverables rather than functional silos or positions. Successful processes should be easy to understand and use, focused on outcomes, respected, and deliver value as measured by effectiveness and efficiency across the enterprise.

1. Process Kill to Process Chill
Identify symptoms which
reduce or increase
enterprise performance

2. My view of business processes
• Team sport
• Relay Race
– Defined deliverables
– Defined exchange zones
• Time
• Place
2

3. My view of business processes
• Exchanges
– One to one
– Many to many
– One to many
– Many to one
3

4. Characteristics of successful processes
• Easy
• Easy to use
• Used
4

5. Rules of thumb
• All inputs and outputs
– Can be connected
– Have the same name on all levels
– Is a deliverable – document/tick off/physical
• Only one activity can reside in one process
• Each output is unique and can only be produced by
one process/activity
• Divide inputs from specifying information
– Input triggers a process/activity
– Specifying information manages what to achieve
5

6. Process Kill to Chill is a continuum
Process
ChillProcess Kill
6
Symptom
1
Symptom
4
Symptom
5
Symptom
3
Symptom
2
Symptom
5
Symptom
6
Symptom
7
Symptom
8

7. • Processes • Business
We have
our
processes
and then
we do
what’s best
We have a
lot of
lessons
learned but
we don’t
improve
Processes
consumes
time and
adds no
value
Process kill

8. Process Kill
• A lot of processes or no processes
• No respect for processes and the work
• Ways of working are discussed, especially
others
• Low re-use on lessons identified
• Functional measurements
• Performance lower than expected
8
Process ChillProcess Kill

9. Symptom 1;
Level of detail
• Henry Ford – product focused
• Malcolm Baldridge/SIQ – quality and
customer focused
• CMMI – Process maturity/How to secure
• ISO 9000 – procedures
• Today – different levels
9

10. Symptom 1;
Level of detail
• Sufficient level of detail
– Depending interactions
– Defined by users
• Defined deliverables
– Content
– Timing

11. Functional organisation:
• responsibility/authority in function
• provide resources: project,
process & line work
• how we work within the unit
• performance review
Legal organisation:
• local aspects, e g legal
• physical security
• facilities
• employment, e g salary,
benefits
Process organisation:
• develop and maintain the process
• responsibility/authority in the
process organization
• planning, execution, follow-up &
deliver
Project organisation
• planning, execution, follow-up &
deliver
• responsibility/authority in the
project
• use of resources
Symptom 2;
Unclear responsibilities/authorities

12. Symptom 2;
Roles vs Position
• A person is employed in position
– Legal organization – Senior Manager
– Job ad – working description*
• A position can have many roles
– Functional organization – Functional Manager
– Process organization – Process Owner
– Project organization – Project Sponsor
12

13. Symptom 3;
Process administration
• Process mapping done in different tools
• No common mapping model
• Many repositories with information
• Valid information is difficult to find and not
respected
• Updates in many places
• A lot of time spent in updates of documents
13

14. Symptom 4;
Process navel-gazing
• Never ending stories
– Tools
• Document based/Database
– Notations
• IDEF0/Zachmann/BPMI/Etc
– Frameworks
• ITIL/TOGAF/Etc
– Definitions
14

15. Symptom 5;
Information modeling
• Common language is useful
– In place or evolve
• Value adding work
• A lot of work involved
• Conceptual level
• Logical information level
15

16. Symptom 6;
Discussions on how we do it
• “It should be like this…”
• “I think it is like this…“
• “I presume/assume it is like this…”
• “How difficult could it be…”
• “If only they….”
16
"Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice
the log that is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3 New American Standard
Bible (© 1995))

17. Symptom 7;
Functional Processes
• Processes documented according to
functional organization
• Detailed on a low level
• Positions are roles
• Focused on how to do it within the function
17
Sales Finance R & D Logistics Production ServiceIT

18. Symptom 8;
Processes measurements
• Functions are measured
• Projects are measured
• ERP’s are setup legally
– Not cross functional
– Nor according to Value Chain
18

19. ASIS – statuses on symptoms
- It’s up to you to evaluate
Process
ChillProcess Kill
19
Sympt
om1
Sympt
om 4
Sympt
om 5
Sympt
om 3
Sympt
om 2
Sympt
om 5
Sympt
om 6
Sympt
om 7
Sympt
om 8

20. Organization might change,
but activities, processes and roles remain
Legal
Organization
Position
(∑ Roles)
Person
Competence
(∑ Roles comp)
Activity
Process
Role
Competence
(Role comp)

21. The processes are the enterprise if …
• Processes
– Are easy to understand
– Focused on what to achieve
– They are respected
– Used
• Deliverables measured
– Effectiveness
– Efficiency
• Employees are respected
21
Process chill