Customer Reviews

The Microguide to Process Modeling in BPMN

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I like the idea the authors had about a micro guide, sometimes these topics can be daunting and offering a book that can be read in a day to get up to speed is a great idea. There are some possible improvements and not necessarily criticisms, the flow of the book could use some improvement, In some chapters a topic is introduced at the beginning but then the authors go off on a tangent though relevant I found myself going back and rereading the start of the chapter thinking I had missed something only to find that topic discussed towards the end. I think the best improvement they could have made was to use consistent real life modeling examples, early in the book the authors suggest they will explore some common archetypes and then list them with participants and sub processes but then use examples like making a PBJ sandwich instead of using any of the processes they mentioned. The authors also introduce what they call the Process Modeling framework which makes sense and is a common approach sadly they describe the PMF sequence but never delve into an example that shows a process being modeled from start to finish, though I followed I think a example would have really helped.

Overall I recommend the book and hopefully the authors will update it, certainly I would consider it as a standard book for our analysts but will wait to see if any of the above get addressed.

I'm preparing several certifications (as SOA and BPM). I'm already certified (UML2 advanced, Java 6, BPM Fundamental). Then, I've to read many books relative to SOA and BPM (reading about 4 hours a day every day).

Some of these books are very verbose and often boring. It's clear that the authors publish more for being recognized as specialists than for teaching their practical knowledge. They should live more in their theorical world than in actual BPM / SOA projects.

Tom Debevoise and Rick Geneva are exactly the opposite of these authors. Their book is short, but extremely efficient. Even my way of BPM designing has dramatically and positively evolved.

From a naive design, they described how some patterns can be applied to improve a BPM solution. He also detailed issues relative to this naive solution (bottlenecks...).

I don't know Tom and Rick, but I'm pretty sure they were involved in many actual SOA projects.

However, his book has one default: it's clear that not all BPM knowledge of Tom and Rick are expressed. They would have enough matter for writting another book.

This book is one of my favorites. It was really pleasant to read it. I've really been bitten by it. A must have.

The ratio quality/price is also unbeatable.

This book is a concise read but contains enough material to introduce anyone to the concepts, objects, and methodology needed to model processes. I continue to use the book as a reference guide. It almost hints at a follow-up book that describes the process modeling framework in more detail, but I haven't seen that book released yet.