In essence, the TOC holds that any given process is limited in what it can achieve by one, or at least a very small number of constraints. It is a straightforward approach that provides a number of suggestions for identifying problems and improving them.
Paul Harmon
Executive Editor and Founder, Business Process Trends
In addition to his role as Executive Editor and Founder of Business Process Trends, Paul Harmon is Chief Consultant and Founder of BPTrends Associates, a professional services company providing educational and consulting services to managers interested in understanding and implementing business process change.
Paul is a noted consultant, author and analyst concerned with applying new technologies to real-world business problems. He is the author of Business Process Change: A Manager's Guide to Improving, Redesigning, and Automating Processes (2003). He has previously co-authored Developing E-business Systems and Architectures (2001), Understanding UML (1998), and Intelligent Software Systems Development (1993). Mr. Harmon has served as a senior consultant and head of Cutter Consortium's Distributed Architecture practice. Between 1985 and 2000 Mr. Harmon wrote Cutter newsletters, including Expert Systems Strategies, CASE Strategies, and Component Development Strategies.
Paul has worked on major process redesign projects with Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Security Pacific, Prudential, and Citibank, among others. He is a member of ISPI and a Certified Performance Technologist. Paul is a widely respected keynote speaker and has developed and delivered workshops and seminars on a wide variety of topics to conferences and major corporations through out the world.
Paul lives in Las Vegas.
Paul can be reached at pharmon@bptrends.com
Harmon on BPM: Management Processes
January 3, 2022 , By
This month Paul turns his focus to Management processes which he believes are less understood than either manufacturing or service processes. Nonetheless, they are just as important to anyone who is engaged in trying to understand how businesses work and how they can be improved.
Deming, IT, and BPM IDEF0 Diagrams
December 6, 2021 , By
As process emerges as a unified field and practitioners become familiar with the practices of other groups of process practitioners, we will find that we have developed a wide variety of techniques to achieve similar purposes and we will benefit from the different uses that different groups have derived from similar approaches.
Harmon on BPM: Service Processes
December 6, 2021 , By
Systematic business process analysis and design began in the US at the beginning of the 20th century and was focused on the manufacturing process. In his Column this month, Paul suggests that at this point, we are all focused on service processes and learning more about how to help customers have good experiences. Read to learn why this is the case.
Steps Toward a Discipline for Process Managers
December 6, 2021 , By
Processes–not departments–describe how an organization creates value. You only get what you measure. If you don’t measure value chains and their subsidiary processes, you don’t achieve consistent results. And, finally, someone has to responsible for achieving results if you are to get them.
Harmon on BPM: AI Automation and Jobs
November 1, 2021 , By
Paul takes on a discussion on everyone’s mind—the inevitable transition to a highly automated world. Although it will not occur overnight, it promises to be painful and frustrating. Nonetheless, Paul believes the more we automate, the cheaper valued goods and services become, and the sooner we can create better societies for all of us. Read this thoughtful and thought-provoking essay, and let us know your thoughts.
Manufacturing and Service Processes
November 1, 2021 , By
Manufacturing processes really do differ from service processes. This is important when you consider that most BPM methodologies were developed when people were focusing on manufacturing. Here Paul Harmon will consider what the differences are and why they are important.
Culture Change
November 1, 2021 , By
Different groups have defined Culture Change for different purposes, and the term has been becoming increasingly fuzzy at the same time that it has been becoming increasingly popular. In this overview, Paul Harmon has tried to sort out some of the basic relationships among the different varieties of culture change.
Harmon on BPM: Business Rules vs. Machine Learning
October 4, 2021 , By
There are different ways to think about a business process–as a series of activities linked together to accomplish a goal.or as a series of decisions that result in a desired outcome. Paul contends that todays’ businesses are focused on using new Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to develop business decision systems which can be developed more quickly and are easier to maintain than older methods.
The Death of Peter Fingar
September 7, 2021 , By
It is with sadness that BPTrends notes the passing of Peter Fingar, a thinker, writer and consultant who contributed greatly to today’s Business Process Management scene. For most of us, Peter first came to our attention when he co-authored Business Process Management: The Third Wave, in 2003, with Howard Smith. In fact Peter had been […]
