Can we become slaves under the BPMS



At the beginning there were just common sense. Then we turned our common sense into experiences and after that routines and finally processes. People went from processes to process automation where the process were governed by IT-systems.

These systems were called BPMS which gave the impression of agility in terms of process changeability. They managed processes, measured the efficiency, simulated and improved the processes. Each new lap around the BPM cycle took away a part of the original common sense. We gave it a few laps more and then the processes were finally based on everything except common sense.

Could that be a real scenario with BPMS?

2 comments:

Roeland Loggen said...

Excellent point. I like the sharp thought behind it :-)

And I will express my hope - No, the future of BPM should be on processes that link to common sense.

But, I guess, we can not deny that the world has turned more complex. Where my ancestor would go out, hunt buffeloo, find wood, create fire, prepare buffeloo, eat, sleep, and go back to step 1, we have to deal with an extremely complex world of intertwined human activity - specialization, markets, money, supply and value chains....
So while common sense still applies, it applies to more and more human interactions. And process is a way to structure this, and in a way to reduce complexity. And we know, we often do a lousy job at this process design, creating even more complexity....

Jonas Ekström said...

Hi Roeland,

I guess this question can be asked for most cases where technology substitutes the human brain. Like for example will Internet be the common source for information and will expertise be lost or less important in the future. Will authorities be undermined by the technology and will we ever question the technology? Are the information/processes correct/ethical and so on?

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All the best
Jonas