"There's a flip side to everything," the saying goes, and in 2 minutes, Derek Sivers shows this is true in a few ways you might not expect.

 

 

 

The debate about the iPad, which sounds like an expensive tampon, about is it a PC minus the keyboard, USB ports etc etc or is really an iPhone which won't fit in your pocket...  is missing the point.

Yes Steve Jobs failed to make the launch visionary  and instead made it a tech fest for Apple afficiados. so yes, many will get bought regardless of the price/functionality.

But what the iPad should have done is started busineses thinking about where they could use a very visual, wifi connected, touch screen device to enable mobile workers to be more productive.

By that I mean BPM applications running on the iPad or equivalents such as Plastic Logic QUE and HP Slate.  Now when I say BPM I do not just mean automation / workflow / form filling applications.  Your local UPS guy has had one of those for ever with a grey LCD screen.

The awesome screen resolution of the iPod Touch / iPhone means that the entire operations manual for the company can be delivered so that workers can follow and understand the combination of manual and automated activities, plus links to the supporting documents, policies, forms, images and systems.

Let’s give an example, which one of our clients was describing to a journalist today.  He is Head of BPM for a global oil company.  His business is strongly regulated; Health and Safety and also SOX. 

He has staff on rigs or in refineries that are several miles square.  Operations staff are often out and about taking samples, checking on equipment and maintaining plant.

They have a wide range of responsibilities and often come across situations where they need guidance;

For example: A leaking pump that may require certain valves to be shut down. The operations manual could describe the sequence of activity supported by photographs, a link to the maintenance intranet page to report the fault, and the PDF with the pump schematic and the different maintenance fault codes.  The alternative would be make a note and then decipher the handwriting, possible soaking wet after a 10 min walk across the windswept Aberdeen site in northern Scotland.

Alternatively senior management are rarely at their desks, but need to make decisions, authorise actions and support staff.  Their iPod Touch  /  iPhone could be loaded with their process-related walkthroughs:

-    The budgeting cycle with guidance, hints and tips and links to the correct screens in the budgeting application

-    The HR review process with links to useful training videos which can be watched on the train into work prior to conducting the review meetings. Or equally valuable, guidance on interview best practice or the redundancy process.

-    How about processes which are disposable, relating to a specific event?  The step by step process for a 2 day conference or analyst/press roadshow, complete with links to the briefing documents, media clips or webpages at the relevant step. Or maybe the detailed step by step process for an M&A transaction.

So where does this information come from?  A centrally managed process repository. It consists of a governed process map made up of a hierarch y of thousands of diagrams.  Process related documentation; policies, work instructions, screenshots, links to systems, metrics, dashboards.

And also role-based end to end flows – guided walkthroughs – which we call Storyboards or Playbooks.
All this information can be accesses directly through the web or synchronised with a PC desktop player or onto a mobile device .
Is this the future.  Were we waiting for the iPad to make this possible?  Absolutely not.

Nimbus Control BPM software has been managing the enterprise process repositories for major blue-chip clients for over 10 years, and as a Cloud based app for 4years.

We’ve just launched Nimbus Control for the iPhone (and I assume for the iPad once we get our hands on one to test) to enable end users to get away from their desks and still be confident they are doing the right things the right way.

Sir Ken Robinson on why schools kill creativity

Sir Ken is speaking in London 9th March at the London Business Forum

 

Dan Buettner: How to live to be 100+

 

A quick search on Google for BPM got exactly 15,900,000 hits.  There are a huge range of definitions or perspectives on what those three letters mean.  Business Process Management, Business Process Modeling (with 1 or 2 ‘L’s), Business Process Mapping. A couple of interesting finds were that BPM is the national time clock in China, and possibly more relevant, BPM-Focus is an energy drink sold exclusively in Ireland by Coca Cola.

Not wrong, just different

 

These different interpretations of BPM are not wrong – they are just different.  Clearly there is some miscommunication and ambiguity between people who genuinely mean the same thing. But there are very different interpretations based on the need or use of the ‘process model’.  Incidentally, the term process model means just as many different things to different people.

The risk is that when these individuals discuss processes and process models they naturally assume that the others in the conversation have exactly the same understanding. Everyone leaves the meeting thinking that they are in complete agreement, but then are horribly confused when they act differently.

 

Many people will recognise this from the HSBC Different Points of View advertising at airports;               

"The more you look at the world, the more you realise that people
     look at things from a different perspective”

   

4 Audiences - 4 hats

 

We have identified 4 different audiences that talk about process - but each means something different. And to make things simpler, or more graphic we have given them different coloured hats:

Green hats:

End users (or business users) want to use the process model for staff training and moment of need support when they are unsure how to conduct a task. The process model needs to include (or link to) detailed work instructions, forms, templates, systems and performance metrics.  In this respect the process model acts as a powerful knowledge management resource.  The process model is the starting point for all manner of business performance improvement initiatives.

Now that hat may be on ‘sideways’ as in service based organisations the average age of employees is under-30 – Gen Y or the iPod generation. These are the frontline staff  who touch the customers day in day out.


White Hats:

The IT department want to understand the business users’ view of the operation to ensure that the IT systems they build and maintain truly support the business users, at minimum cost. They want to ensure that there is integrity of information as it flows around the systems.
 
Blue Hats:
The IT system providers such as SAP, Oracle or Salesforce.com want to ensure that the configuration of their system is managed accurately and that it hangs together end-to-end i.e. passes System Testing and User Acceptance Testing.  In short, that it meets the users needs.

Red Hats:

The risk and compliance officers want to be able to demonstrate to auditors that end users are following a documented process, and that the correct risk control points have been identified and are effectively managed from a governance, ownership and auditing standpoint.

The Final Word

So what are the conclusions or takeaways from this?

•    There are 4 audiences – with different needs & perspectives
•    Each audience needs to respect and accommodate all 4 views
•    A 4 audiences need to collaborate and therefore need a common understanding of process and how they are modeled
•    That common model may need some compromises but has to be understood by all 4 audiences.  Therefore it has to use a language business (90% of the audience) will understand
•    Need for governance and cross linkage critical or the 4 audience will diverge

This argues for one multifaceted process model, which links to related systems and information which supports all 4 audiences.  If that’s correct, it confirms why there’s a B in BPM.

 

So the next time you think that you are in ‘violent agreement - step back, look up and take a look at the hat the other person is wearing.

The current weather problems are not a spike (1-2 days) but prolonged.   Therefore it has exposed companies who are not ‘process mature’ . 

 

But this problem applies to a number of business disruptions – power cuts, postal strikes, airline delays, data centre failure.   A quick spike and you can muddle through with staff heroics  - Heroics is the Process Maturity Curve (below).  But those heroics cannot be sustained for long. More mature organisations are at Defined or beyond in terms of maturity. 

 

When there is a problem they simply switch into a pre-defined ‘alternative working’ mode.   Example is Nimbus.  We switched to “staff can’t get in” mode;  support desk remote working, telephone rerouting, rules on use of VPN, etc etc.  We also have a “network connectivity / no power to office “ mode – an issue when you have a stately home in the middle of 2,000 acres of woods.

So – “What are your alternative modes of working and are they defined?  Can you switch to them without fuss, and then switch back without leaving data orphaned/lost?’   Shell called this scenario planning.  But it takes thought.  And sometimes doing is easier than thinking. 
 

Every year the Confident Club put out their thoughts on New Year's resolutions to a select group of their clients. As I whole heartedly agree with them, I thought I'd share them with you.

How to be the same old failure in the New Year
 
New Year's Eve... It's one minute to midnight... You're thinking one or all of the following:
 - Who can I kiss?

 - Who can I avoid kissing?

 - How much champagne is left?
 - What does "Should auld acquaintance be forgot for the sake of auld lang syne" actually mean?

 

Or

 

How come I never get invited to any parties? Just me and Jules Holland on TV again? I'm a sad loser? I must set some New Year's Resolutions.

Now let us consider that last thought. Here are the top ten most popular New Year's Resolutions:

 

1.    Get a life. A recent poll shows that 97% of people lead lives of quiet desperation. Then die. And are quite pleased.

 

2.    Get fit. Regular exercise has been associated with more health benefits than anything else known to man. That's why we hate it.

 

3.    Lose weight. 55% of adults are overweight. 45% of adults point and laugh at the other 55%.

 

4.    Quit smoking. On average, smokers try about four times before they quit for good. By which time, because of their massive mood swings, they have no friends left and so start smoking again through intense loneliness.

 

5.    Enjoy life more. 90% vow to make this the year to appreciate life itself. And wear flowers in their hair.

 

6.    Quit drinking. For many this really gets in the way of resolution five.

 

7.    Get out of debt. 11 people out of 10 believe money will solve their problems. They also struggle with fractions.

 

8.    Make money. See above.

 

9.    Save money. Ditto.

 

10.  Get organised. Just where is that important tax return? Is it under paper mountain one, two or twelve? Can't someone invent a kind of metal detector thing but for important documents?
 

And here are the top ten reasons why people fail to keep their New Year Resolutions. It's important you don't read, or understand any of them, if you want to keep that wonderful feeling of underachievement you get from falling at the first hurdle, year after sorry year.

 

1.    Limiting beliefs. Beliefs control all of your behaviours. If you don't change these nothing will change. For example, if you believe money is the root of all evil, it is.

2.    No strong reason why. Most people get started with the when* or the how but what matters most is the why. Membership of health and fitness clubs quadruple in January. Most people stop going by March. Because the only reason why they had was something they resolved to do on a whim at 11.59pm on December 31st.

3.    Not knowing your values.We need to move in line with the things that are most important to us. If the reason you are doing something isn't important to you, if it doesn't align with your values, it will be hard to stay motivated.

 

4.    No vision. What will success look, sound and feel like say a year from now? Most sabotage their New Year's Resolutions by not creating a crystal clear picture of their future success and playing it back over and over again inside their head.

 

5.    No clearly defined goal. If your goal is wishy washy so will be your results. Which is best: "I want to lose lots of blubber" or "I will be my ideal weight of 12st by 1st August by losing 3oz a day"?

6.    Not involving others. There is no successful person on the planet who has achieved anything on their own. Life is a team game.

7.    Not taking personal responsibility. "People are as happy as they make up their minds to be" so spoke Abraham Lincoln. I know it's hard to believe but you got yourself into this mess and until you take personal responsibility to get out of it you will be forever stuck in the mire blaming everyone but yourself for your misfortune.

8.    Not taking massive action. "After all is said and done more is said than done." Need I say more.

9.    No measurement of results. Feedback is the breakfast of champions- whatever that means. If you don't regularly monitor and measure your progress, get quality feedback and develop flexibility on the journey towards your goal you will never reach it.

10.  Not taking time to celebrate the little wins along the way. If you don't break your goal down into bite sized chunks and give yourself a little pat on the back every time you enjoy progress, no matter how small, you will feel overwhelmed and under motivated.

 

* By the way, New Year is a crap time to decide to change your life for the better. The one and only reason you have for doing it then is that it's a tradition. (First started by the Babylonians who celebrated New Year's Day over four thousand years ago, although their celebration was in March rather than in January, coinciding with the spring planting of crops. The Babylonians still quit going to the gym in droves in April.)

 

The Confident Club  www.theconfidentclub.com

Social Networking is everywhere.  A recent blog posting listed the top 50 sites where you need to make sure that your business is listed.  That is a full time job on top of all the other PR and analyst relations you need to do.

 

A quote from the MD of one business says it all

 

"There are 50 (obviously much more than that) sites that you need to have a presence on in order to "pull off" your social media strategy. I dont know about you, but I dont have time to sit on a computer all day and manage my real-time social/business profile. I mean it's getting kind of nuts, wouldn't you agree? There must be a simpler way. Today I need to go to LinkedIn to talk to folks like you. Go to YouTube to upload a video. Go to Facebook to add a picture. Forget MySpace, that's a joke. And Twitter baffles me. 140 character messages to people I dont know? Dont get it. And the kicker is, none of these sites are exclusive for my industry. I think that is what bugs me the most. I want one site, dedicated to my industry where I can do everything I need to do and where every one else is also hanging out thinking the same thing. Load pictures, write a blog, add my company, upload a video, chat, etc. And it's all connected."

 

So for all those of you who are confused - it is only going to get worse before it gets better.  Eventually the top products will win out and the rest will be noise.  But to see where it has all come from, here is a look back at 2009 in terms of Social Networking.

 

2009 in Social Media from Rob Cottingham on Vimeo. (credit where its due)

 

Walking along the edge of harbour on a very bright, crisp cold Sunday with our 2 children aged 8 and 10 we noticed one of the houses had very prominent solar panels. So the discussion got onto saving the planet, the recent Summit in Copenhagen and how businesses consume natural resources; electricity, cars to get people to work and airtravel.

 

Pretty serious stuff for a Sunday morning. And then the discussion got onto Nimbus.  "So Daddy, if we are all meant to be saving the planet, what does your company do to help?" My initial reaction was "Well. not much..."

 

But, it got me thinking. We now use web-ex  more and fly less than we ever did. I gladly gave back my BA Silver Card in exchange for a Blue card (Note to BA - couldn't that be spun into a clever PR angle by renaming it a Green Card. They certainly could do with the positive spin). The knock on effect of reduced expenses is a welcome by-product, plus less wear and tear on our staff.

 

Our HQ is in a large stately home in the middleof 2,000 acres of woods.  Last year they installed a huge wood chipping and burning facility to heat the buildings. And wood is not something they are short of.

 

Many of our staff work from home reducing the cars on the road and again making them more effective. My commute the office is over an hour, but that is because I choose to mountain bike through the hills to work - the long way which includes a couple of climbs with stunning views over Chichester Harbour.  The direct route takes  just 15 mins.  But when I get to work I need to fight for the showers as a large number of staff have taken advantage of subsidised bicycles on the Government Ride2Work scheme.

 

But a larger point is that Nimbus Control is being used by major corporations to help them reduce waste and improve their efficiencies. That probably has a greatest effect.

 

So, satisifed with that, the kids turned their thoughts to lunch at the sailing club, and whether ice cream was on offer. Now we were back on a siubject where I could be clear on the answer - "Maybe. We'll see"