Celia Wolf and I recently met to review the BPTrends website. We reviewed what we have published and set some targets for future coverage. As always, when one undertakes an exercise like this, its nice to have an idea of who makes up the market. This year we found ourselves using a simple matrix, like the one shown below.
In essence, the matrix considers two things — the types of techniques practitioners are most interested in, and the level within the organization that practitioners tend to want to work. Thus, a line-of-business manager interested in fixing a sales process would be in the second box down in the first column, while a software development team interested in analyzing an existing sales process with an eye to automating some part of the process would be in the right most column, in the second row down.
The space allocated to the different concerns represents a subjective evaluation of those active in the process market, derived from reading lots of surveys and attending lots of conferences. In a nutshell, the number of business executives interested architecture issues is the smallest niche, while the number of IT software developers interested in automation constitutes the largest niche. The shaded area is not occupied. Thus, business executives may pay a little attention to process automation, but they primarily think of it as something done by IT.
I'd be interested in hearing from readers about two things. First, do you think we have the process space defined about right, and then, second, where should BPTrends try to increase its coverage of the process market?
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