Should We Design Processes Like Airplanes?

As the ongoing discussion about standards for BPM continues, an interesting thread with Mr. Khan of Ultimus fame emerged. In response to his Don’t Forget the BPM Ecosystem article, I explained that standards always play a critical role in the development of mature industries, and drew further analogy to the airline industry that Mr. Khan felt compeled to challenge in a subsequent article. Unfortunately, his appreciation for the standardization that took place in both the commercial and general aviation markets seems to be fairly limited, and certainly not matched by facts that can be easily observed by any pilot today, myself included.

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Developing a True BPM Ecosystem

In a recent article, Rashid N. Khan, former founder and CEO of Ultimus, makes a case for diversity in the BPM ecosystem, comparing it to the transportation ecosystem. He then goes on concluding that “one BPMS will not satisfy all the process needs of an organization, one BPMS vendor is unlikely to meet all the process needs of an organization, [and] one standard will not be suitable for all types of BPMS.” While I have a great deal of respect for what Mr. Khan did at Ultimus, I must disagree with both his analogy and his conclusions.

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Why Standards Matter

A month ago, the Why BPEL Matters article was posted on IT|Redux, and triggered a wave of discussions rarely seen in the little BPM microcosm. Initially, they focused on arcane mathematical considerations supported by pseudo-scientific arguments on both sides of the fence (here and there). But as the debate progressed, what is at stake for those opposed to BPEL as standard process execution language became clear, and the motivations for supporting their side of the argument painfully evident: disregard for the value of standards, and focus on the needs of vendors rather than the interest of customers (Cf. this article and that one). Let’s take a closer look at what this healthy debate brought under the spotlight.

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What is BPM 2.0?

BPM 2.0 is a term originally coined by Bruce Silver (BPMS Watch) and defined by Ismael Ghalimi on this post. The concept was later refined through this other post. Many industry analysts agree with this definition, including its reference to WS-BPEL, which we believe is a requirement for the development of an executable BPMN model (Cf. BPMI.org Redux). What follows is a summary of its guiding principles.

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BPMI.org Redux

A breakthrough, finally! After almost a month of back and forth discussions started by the now-infamous why BPEL matters post, and continued on InfoQ, the Workflow Patterns Google Group, and countless posts on this very blog, we finally reached a conclusion, drawn by Bruce Silver and relayed by David French. They are calling for the industry to develop a “Compliance Specification for BPMN” that would define the “elements, attributes, and flow patterns that must be supported to claim BPMN support.” What a great idea! Now, let’s take a look at how such a specification should be developed, and who could take the lead for such a project.

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Why BPEL Matters

Following my recent post on BPM 2.0, Sandy Kemsley, one of the few independent analysts covering the BPM space, was quick to agree with our updated definition of BPM 2.0, at the exception of one point (out of sixteen): support for BPEL. The question of BPEL vs. XPDL, (or BPEL vs. nothing) has been one of the most debated topics in the decade-long history of BPM. Here is why BPEL matters.

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Welcome to BPMLab

Eight years ago, I founded the Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI.org), which aim was to develop standards for Business Process Management (BPM). In the early days, it largely succeeded, and delivered the Business Process Modeling Language (BPML) and the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). Eventually, BPMI.org merged within the Object Management Group (OMG), and did not manage to innovate beyond the release of BPMN 2.0. BPMLab is an attempt at continuing BPMI.org’s original effort, developing an integrated stack of standards for BPM based on BPMN and BPEL.

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