If you've been wanting to learn how to add "method and style" to your BPMN modeling but not yet ready for the full BPMessentials training and certification, here's an opportunity for you. On July 20, I'll be conducting a 4-hour BPMN Method and Style Level 1 Workshop in a virtual classroom format, i.e., interactive delivered over the Internet. It will include hands-on exercises using the brand new Microsoft Visio Premium 2010, which includes native BPMN support. We'll cover the Level 1 palette and a step by step methodology that takes you from a blank Visio page to a compete hierarchical model with top-down traceability. We'll also discuss how to use BPMN in process improvement and redesign, including a walkthrough of simulation analysis using Global 360 analystView, a Visio add-in. G360 is helping to advertise the event. The cost is $395, with volume discounts available. The signup link is here. The July 20 event is limited to 50, but I will offer it again if demand warrants.
The key idea of my approach to process modeling, as laid out in my book BPMN Method and Style, is that process diagrams should be able to stand on their own, with the process logic obvious from inspection of the diagram alone. All that accompanying documentation and "business requirements"... we all know nobody looks at it. And the model should be understandable even by people outside of your immediate team or business area; you should not have to know already how the process works in order to make sense of the BPMN. It's not about creativity, but consistency. Given the same set of facts about the process logic, all modelers should create more or less the same diagram. Also, the Level 1 method and style has to align with Level 2, which focuses more on events and exception handling, a common process language shared by business and IT.
Note: The free trial of Visio 2010 Premium is good, I think, for 60 days, so if you are planning to use it with the workshop, maybe wait till next week to start it.