How would you process map a cup of tea?

I once had a recruiter vet me based on whether I could process map a cup of tea. I think he was new to the job and was fed a script from his client.

What's the actual answer?

Firstly, a cup of tea isn't a process. You can't map a cup of tea. It's an object, not a process. You can process map the process of making a cup of tea, but not the cup of tea itself.

I mentioned before about a process having a single output. In other words, in a sequential process where one process step is performed after another, then there will usually only one output at a time.

If there are two outputs, it's often a good sign that it should be a decision point or a gateway instead of a process step.

Introduction

In the previous article in the Fundamentals of Processing Mapping series, I introduced the concept and use of swimlanes in process mapping. In this article, I want to expand on how the swimlanes are connected by introducing messages.

At the end of the previous article in the Process Mapping Fundamentals series, I mentioned that I'd written the processes from two different perspectives. Swimlanes allow you to display who does what in a simple and easy-to-understand way, allowing you to combine the activities of several people and roles into one diagram.

I've been asked to help someone out with a process map and although my first advice was to draft it on paper, then we can figure out what it should actually look like, my second point was to ask what software was available. I'd already guessed that there would be no formal process mapping software, let along Business Process Management suite that I'd have liked to have seen. I was at the point of hoping for MS Visio, as a diagramming tool, it works, but it does mean that you have to capture the rest of the process description elsewhere.

Use Cases

I embraced UML as a communication tool a number of years ago and have found it successful in being able to convey messages in a simple manner. I don't use every type of diagram - some are too strange for the average business user. I do use Use Case diagrams. These are great.

Use Case Diagrams for Scope

The industry standard is Microsoft's Project, a few years ago, Project Managers Workbench was also a contender. It still may be but I haven't seen it in use for a while. 

Neither are open-source.

I've been using process mapping for over a decade now. I've probably been the recipient of more process maps than I've created, as I've had to implement changes that have already been designed by others. I've also had to talk many business users through the intricacies of their redesigned processes, especially if they (wrongly) hadn't been designed by them. The most common scenario for me is where I'm asked to review process maps and assess how easily they could be implemented, bringing together knowledge of people, processes and IT/ICT.

The Award Sounds website had its first birthday yesterday. One year old. Wow. I posted the first articles on 15th July 2007. They were mainly placeholders stating what I was going to place on the site.

Client Acceptance is a key issue for me across every sector I work in. A formal acceptance process can mitigate many issues to the point that problems are caught earlier and hence, projects delayed less.