I currently think a lot about the automation of workflows. Therefore, it is not surprising that I read about the topic. And as usual, I try to create a mindmap to be able to remember what I read. Depending on my time, more mindmaps will result from this book. This mindmap is capturing (what I think) are the essentials for the first model (Level 1) of the method of the author. The mindmap can be downloaded from my webpage.
Klaus, did you ever come across something like the FLOW method in software-development?
http://www.se.uni-hannover.de/forschung/flow/
Das Forschungsprojekt FLOW beschäftigt sich mit Eigenschaften, Modellierung, Analyse und Optimierung von Informationsflüssen in der Softwareentwicklung. Eine wesentliche Eigenschaft von FLOW ist die explizite Modellierung von flüssigen und festen Informationsflüssen.
Some time ago I attended a workshop on this topic.
We described in smaller groups some typical situations in our working environments using the very easy to learn flow notation.
It was incredible how easy we could spot patterns and potential problems in the workflows we reviewed. Especially I liked the categorization of information into
fest (solid) and flüssig (fluid). I found also the leightweight documentation of experiences advantageous.
Clearly, the FLOW method is not intended to produce code out of models as a business process modelling notation potentially does.
Hi whichit, thanks for the link. Interesting idea, this FLOW. Would like to attend such a workshop and see the full potential. Reading about FLOW reminded me of the Viable System Model (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viable_System_Model). That model is focusing on organisational environments. The separation into five components was quite interesting and can normally easily highlight some missing areas or problematic functions in the organisation.