Ep. 76 – EA/BPM Misconceptions: Caspar Jans & Russell Gomersall

Oh, why do I need a special EA/BPM tool? I am managing my apps in a spreadsheet just fine.
That is one of the misconceptions that I have heard over the last twenty-something years of me helping clients to stand up practices and increase their EA/BPM maturity. And there are tons more of those …

Well, our first guest doesn’t need an introduction since he has been on the show already: Caspar Jans. But for those of you who don’t know him, he is not only working in the BPM space for decades but is also the co-host of the BPM360 Podcast, being recognized as a Top 50 voice in operational excellence by the PEX / Process Excellence Network in 2023, and he writes a newsletter on LinkedIn.

Our second guest is Russell Gomersall, who is the other co-host of the BPM360 Podcast and is a Senior Partner at bpExperts GmbH. His expertise lies in developing and applying the BusinessFlows-MetamodeI, bpExperts proprietary method for process-centric business transformations, and leading the TechLab, their competence center for technology-driven process optimization. Russell also act as the Chief Cheerleader and Value Owner of Passion, one of his core values, and fosters a culture of enthusiasm, engagement, and collaboration among bpExpert’s team and customers.

In this episode of the podcast we are talking about (and I am not sure if we used all of the misconceptions below, but so be it):

• Russell’s and Caspar’s backgrounds
• Architecture Usage
  • BPM is just for nerds / has no real-life application
  • EA is just something for IT. Nobody needs that – a spreadsheet/CMDB/… will do
  • BPM is just process modeling. (Alternatively) BPM is just process documentation after the fact and the real people have implemented a running software
• Projects
  • BPM is just a project
• What is all the fuzz about this stuff?
  • Who needs to model? All I have to do is use my Process Mining to document my processes
  • This whole documentation thing just creates effort and cost. We are faster and cheaper if we don’t do it. Good software needs no documentation! (Alternatively) We are Agile!
  • Why do you force me to create all of this stuff? I don’t want to do this (create diagrams, feed a database, etc.) – I am agile!
  • Process diagrams are just boxes and arrows. Why do these nerds make so much noise around notations and frameworks?
• How to use the tools / the discipline
  • If I implement SAP, I can just use the SAP scope items and related BPMN
  • Documenting process ‘properly’ in the context of an IT project doesn’t make sense because nobody requires the (process)documentation afterwards
  • I don’t need a process tool for my regulatory compliance and risk management. I have a dedicated app for this
  • BPM is only for large organizations
  • A process without a (BPMN) model isn’t a process.
  • BPMN is better than EPC
• Skills
  • Why so much fuzz around an implementation project? It is just a drawing tool – give me the damn licenses and I am good
  • BPM requires an advanced degree to involve yourself in

Caspar is easy to reach on LinkedIn and also has a website that contains his writings (and his newsletter “Process Extraordinaire Weekly” on LinkedIn here). Russel can be found on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russellgomersall/.

You can find their podcast BPM360 wherever you get your podcasts or on their website: https://www.bpm360podcast.com/.

Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or leaving us a voice message by clicking here.

Additional information

• Caspar has been a guest before and he also has a “Meet the Maker” profile on What’s Your Baseline?

Credits

Music by Jeremy Voltz, www.jeremyvoltzmusic.com

• CP1 (Welcome)
• Basement Apartment (Interlude 1)
• Wurly (Interlude 2)
• South Wing (Outro)