With the current business climate asking if IT really matters anymore (as a differentiator) and reduced spending on new systems while trying to get the most from existing ones, Harrison-Broninski steps into the breech with some truly original analysis. His book essentially forces us to consider the question: "What should we change if people really are the most valuable asset in business?"
The author's answer is both profound and feasible. While he does not discard the current generation of workflow and BPM systems, he finds their value only in a limited range of processes that can be described mechanistically. Today's systems force workers to be in lockstep with machines and the timing those machines (software) assume. As an alternative, Harrison-Broninski offers us an in depth look at how people actually work (based upon over a decade of his research and that of other experts) and proposes a new type of BPM solution he calls a Human Interaction Management System (HIMS). In fact, he has built a HIMS called RADRunner, which you can download, and use, free of charge. There is a technical section in chapter six, which briefly explains the main considerations for building or including a HIMS in commercial solutions, which the author fully expects in the future. RADRunner is the author's attempt to prove his theory with something that can be implemented with users today - and it has been. This book is not about his trying to sell software, but rather to give rise to a new breed of more effective BPM solutions. Harrison-Broninski seems to be more of a researcher than an entrepreneur, though he has qualities from both.
A HIMS is a combination of existing, proven technologies and the author's careful thinking about how people really function as knowledge workers. With many economies shifting to collaborative knowledge workers (interaction worker) and away from heads-down assembly line type workers (independent worker), the need for systems that make the most of human efficiencies seems natural. But this is easier said than done; this book takes a big step in the right direction. Harrison-Broninski's analysis observes human work occurring in five main stages - Research, Evaluate, Analyze, Constrain and Task (REACT). Most systems today only account for the Task portion of this overall process, but a HIMS tries to facilitate (or at least not interfere) with all of them.
REACT, as described in the book, can be readily observed in all sorts of human activity - whether ordering food in the drive-through, building a back deck, hunting or implementing a new system in the office. One interesting point is that when humans work, we literally decide how to work first. Then as the work proceeds, new information arrives that transforms the process a team or individual will follow. The "process" of human projects is not a static entity defined up front and a HIMS is perfectly aware of this and even encourages the change to happen naturally. This kind of dynamic process change is not easily facilitated in today's workflow or groupware. The author relies upon Role Activity Diagrams (RAD) to describe processes accounting for human factors. The notion of a role(s) for each user is taken to a new level with HIMS.
I could go on and on about how much I like the book, its topic and the writing of its author. But, like many great ideas, HIMS probably face an uphill battle against tradition. This is not to fault the idea itself, but just to note that even less ambitious BPM solutions run into cultural trouble (perhaps because they don't take a HIMS approach, it could be argued). The following points are some specifics on this overall concern. First, the Role Activity Diagrams are somewhat intuitive but also challenge long-standing training about how diagrams are interpreted (timing is not prescribed). The thinking behind HIMS RAD is great, but for now, as the author concedes, it cuts against the grain of training. Second, as with all BPM, a HIMS requires extensive integration, especially to realize the human benefits it aims for. The author does not stress this point, but it is clear from the books' goals and looking at the documentation/features of RADRunner that integration costs can run deep with a HIMS (both good and bad). Third, there may be an issue related to a gradual rollout (small pilot) of a HIMS. A HIMS delivers value only to the extent it is in sync with real-life work of people in the organization, but the less it is deployed, the less in sync it will be. Because the HIMS seeks to model human patterns so accurately (more so than other types of systems) it would seem to be an acute problem to not get a complete population of workers involved at once. Fourth, on a technical note, the HIMS transaction model seems to require ACID behavior (specifically rollback) for any enterprise interface since a large rollback may be required when a task finishes in a state that contradicts business rules (postconditions). Databases and queuing systems typically have rollback, but many other enterprise interfaces like ad-hoc web services, file transfers and e-mail do not provide this behavior, yet these may well be systems the user is affecting during their work.
All new ideas have unanswered questions and I offer mine in the spirit of advancement more than criticism. I love this book. It has caused me to think and learn about processes in a healthy way. The author is a hard-working genius and I truly hope his ideas see the fruition they deserve. It seems inevitable to me, just a question of time. Buy this brilliant book if you are deeply interested in the interaction of people and computers, especially in the not too distant future.
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ABS
excellent message hidden really well
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2014
