Rapid deployment of simple processes

R.D.O.S.P. isn't a very compelling acronym. It is a compelling concept. 40% of job activities are ad-hoc in nature according to a 2004 report published by McKinsey (the report refers to these as tacit tasks). 40% of processes are currently unaddressed/underaddressed by "Big BPM" software players like Pega. Organizations are 'making due' with band-aid applications: the competition in this space is email and Excel. What leaves these 40% unaddressed by more rigorous solutions is that their impermanence makes them hard to target:

• Following a traditional project lifecycle, by the time the requirements are understood, the need may have passed or the focus radically shifted.


• The short duration of an ad-hoc process's lifecycle also makes an ROI-based, project justification difficult--for a 2-week long process, payback can't be justified over 2-years.

These problems can be addressed. There is a single barrier to overcome: deployment time. To address this untapped, we need the Domino's Pizza Guarantee--forget 30 day implementations, we need 30-minute implementations--or your process is free.

[ < time < money < risk ]

Now, back to the R.D.O.S.P. (Rapid Deployment of Simple Processes) concept. How would we achieve the rapidity and simplicity required to address the ad-hoc processes that make-up a substantial portion of the world's work in a cost-effective and profitable way?

Rapidity requires two key ingredients:

1) friction-less instantiation of an development/processing environment and

2) digestion and implementation of process details inside of a New York minute.

Frictionless instantiation is becoming more feasible with advent of Cloud Computing and Platform as a Service (PaaS) movements [Pega is introducing it's own answer to PaaS into PRPCs next release].

Simplicy requires two additional key ingredients:

1) a scaled-down definition of what constitutes an 'adequate' solution and

2) the unearthing of workable assumptions and the prebuilding widgets to allow processes to be 'mashed-up'.

Naturally, we would find applications for an RDOSP capabilities in traditional 'transactional' process fullfillment as well. Consider that an organization might start the journey toward automation by first taking a single, simple step. A multi-generational approach is certainly more palitable to certain organizations because it allows for ongoing organizational learning and a faster path to short-term value. Look for more on these ideas in months to come. As always, I am interested in hearing your impressions. Happy New Year.