Lance and I are going to be at OMG ThinkTank in October (October 6-7, 2008), and then again at OMG Think Tank in Europe (November 11-12, 2008).  Lance is hosting a Round Table on Managing Complexity, and I’ll be hosting a Round Table on how process execution is being impacted by ERP/SOA/Web2.0. This year Think Tank is going to have much more of a business focus around BPM, which is welcomed news! Not that the technical side hasn’t been very well represented — and with great content.  Nearly all of the BPM events hosted each year have technology as the center of gravity. Looking forward to seeing how this goes over. The round table sessions are without a doubt the best part of Think Tank. A round table is where you usually have about 6-10 true industry experts and/or very active BPM practioners from mainstream companies sit around a table and provide their experiences based on the topic of the RT.

Last year at the conclusion of the event, everyone agreed Think Tank should expand this vehicle as it was chock full of some great insights and collaboration. Most of the time the topic left the table and was picked up at breaks and after session get-togethers to continue the discussion. The purpose of the leader of the RT is to bring some very good knowledge and experience on the topic, but to primarily facilitate discussion; it is not a platform to monologue the content.

If you have the chance I would highly recommend considering going to Think Tank this year in either Chicago or Amsterdam. You can check out the previous year’s event here.

I will be working with a partner colleague to lead a workshop, as part of Gartner’s Workshop Series, this year in Washington DC. I didn’t get a chance to make last year’s session but heard anecdotally it was well represented. This year Dr. John Alden from Capability Measurement and I will be delivering a workshop on BPM Measurement: Principles and Practices. This workshop is all about starting or improving measurement in companies BPM initiatives. Something I can tell you is woefully lacking and as a result companies may not be getting all of the “bang for the buck” they really should on these projects and programs. The synopsis is as follows:

Participants will learn how to start or to improve existing measurement activities in a BPM initiative. The workshop will be divided into two parts:
1) a “measurement principles” presentation
2) a facilitated “practice oriented case study” discussion
In the first section, the content will cover:
- Current landscape for BPM measurement - trends and issues
- Measurement and its link to strategy
- Practical frameworks for guiding measurement programs and their lifecycle(s)
- How the maturity of business processes affects BPM measurement capability and analytics
- Where to start if you are new? How to improve if you are already involved?

In the second section, the participants will engage in group discussion designed to provide for tangible outcomes, e.g. something useful to take back home. Participants will evaluate their own preparedness for BPM measurement and develop a measurement roadmap tailored to the maturity of their business processes.

You can learn more about the Summit and Register here at Gartner BPM Summit

Hope to see you there!