Demystifying the term PROCESS: 10 requirements

The term ‘process’ is one of the most abused terms in the history of (IT) (service) management – along with the term ‘service’. In this newsletter, I’ll let you in on the new thinking on service management that will help you get in control of your services in a very simple and sustainable way.

‘Process’ is one of the most abused terms

If you open the average book on process management, you’ll always find a similar definition of ’process’ at page 1. It will be something like “a series of activities that is triggered by an input and that delivers a predestined output (or maybe even an outcome), which is assured by means of control”. Unfortunately, that average process management book then goes on to provide only information about procedures, work instructions, and other practices – often in the form of a practical reference model. The consequence is that “everything is a process”, and we can no longer see the forest for the trees.

This is the bitter reality for the vast majority of organizations in today’s economy and society, in business and in government, in health care and in IT.

A sustainable solution

Fortunately, you can escape from this chaos. The only thing have to do is to apply a very traditional, almost old-fashioned approach: “Think First, Act Later”. That approach seems almost lost on many organizations and experts that are focusing on the latest technologies and techniques. Nevertheless, a sustainable future requires a sustainable approach, and that’s why that old-fashioned approach may come in handy from time to time.

10 fundamental requirements for processes

Most of what we’ve learned to call ‘process’ actually isn’t a process at all. That’s where we got off-track. So let’s get back on that highway and see if we can achieve that much-desired dot on the horizon: a simple, sustainable, understandable way of organizing our work in a process-driven way. After all, processes are supposed to deliver the shortest connection between input and output.

The Unified Service Management method specifies 10 requirements that something must meet, before we can use the term ‘process’.

1. A process describes what has to happen successively, not the who or how.
2. A process can be interpreted with a verb.
3. A process can be counted.
4. Processes are not depending upon practical conditions (?).
5. Processes have a customer-relevant and unique purpose.
6. A process can be divided into sub-processes, but that does not change the process.
7. A process model organizes the processes.
8. An integral process model includes all service management activities.
9. In an integrated process model, each activity occurs only once.
10. All activities are steered using process control.

In 10 subsequent posts in this newsletter, I’ll take you through each of these requirements – and why they are critical to a sustainable management system for your service organization.

[1] A PROCESS DESCRIBES WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN SUCCESSIVELY, NOT THE WHO OR HOW.

This first requirement seems obvious and logical, but it is the most abused requirement of all. And it’s easy to see that this is so. Just look at any of the popular best practice frameworks, and you’ll find hundreds of things that are called ‘processes’ ranging from Security Management, Capacity Management, and Financial Management, to Demand Management, Design Coordination and Customer Relationship Management, in the discipline of IT Service Management (using ITIL). Ranging from Application Portfolio Management, Supplier Definition, and Development Strategy, to Software Control and Distribution or Testing, in the discipline of Application Management (using ASL). Ranging from Information Lifecycle Management, Specify Information Requirements, and Business Data Management, up to Information Coordination or Design Non-Automated Information Systems, for the discipline of Business Information Management (using BiSL/DID). Ranging from Manage Strategy, Manage Organizational Change Enablement and Manage Human Resources, up to Manage Enterprise Architecture, Manage Configuration and Manage Relationships, in the discipline of IT auditing (using COBIT). Ranging from a myriad of practicalities that are described in the hundreds of reference frameworks you can find at APQC’s website, to any of the business processes that TOGAF talks about.

If you add all of these ‘processes’ together, you’ll find many hundreds – maybe even thousands. But if you test these ‘processes’ against the simple requirement [1] of the 10 presented above, you will immediately see that they all fail. So let's call that a misunderstanding.

They are not limited to just activities: the what. They also describe the who and the how, in applied ways. That’s because they have their origins in the best practices. And practices are always combinations of the what, the who, and the how – applied to some issue of common concern, such as the important question of ”How do I make sure that my services are secure?”. That is an important question – no doubt about that – but Security Management is not a process: it’s a practice. An important one, but still – a practice.

Do the test

Check the things you’ve been calling ‘processes’ against requirement [1]. Look at the practical level of detail of the guidance you find. Conclude that the guidance contains details on the who and the how. And then prepare for the next post in this series, to foster your new ideas on a sustainable process architecture for Enterprise Service Management.

That next post will be on the second requirement: “A process can be interpreted with a verb.”. It seems a silly and childish requirement – but try it out and you’ll be surprised.

For the impatient reader

If you want to read up on USM before that second post, you can read “Unified Service Management – An Introduction to the USM Method”. Available in paperback format through Amazon, ?and in an online format at the USM Portal. Or you can subscribe to a free online, monthly USM speed training for a helicopter view on the new thinking of USM.

Read the next post >> or download the e-book "Demystifying the term PROCESS"