Business Process Management: The Soft Issues.

This article presents the author's observation on the soft side challenges of Business Process Management (BPM). The ying and yang reality of technology and humanity represent a dangerous and unpredictable blend. Technology is cold, rigid and impersonal--it marches forward, trying to obliterate all inefficiencies in its way. Humanity is warm, flexible and personal--it inches forward, questioning innovation along its way, even as it gobbles it up. If one select a BPM product that does not have all the features one need or that fails to implement a key BPM standard, that is a hard mistake. Hard mistakes are easier to fix than soft mistakes--one find another product or pay to have the vendor add the missing bits. Soft mistakes are not as easily fixed, because they are rooted in social challenges. Social challenges can be defined simply as human resist; human acts irrationally; humans do not like being fenced in. BPM is a change agent; humans resist change. In short, and in street vernacular, BPM messes with people and people do not like being messed with. Organizational design, methodological prowess, process discovery styles, process education and other concepts are considered soft simply because they are too wiggly to address casually and be considered resolved.