Episode 99 1/2 — BPMN 3 (?) … Pt. 2 Ideas for Improvements
Last week we took a deep(-er) look at what BPMN is today and pointed out the scope, difficulties, and misconceptions in the current specification.
But what are ideas for improvements?
I am glad that you asked, because this episode is exactly about this (with a slight twist to the business side of things). In this episode of the podcast, we talk about:
- Today’s topic: What should BPMN 3.0 look like? Spoiler—it’s more than just dots and arrows.
- The hosts unpack the missing hierarchy in BPMN—why we need clear distinctions between high-level, process, and task models. Roland argues for flexibility and “N levels of process”—from value chains down to sub-processes.
- J-M pushes for decision levels—models as tools for making decisions, not just communication artifacts.
- Call activities: misused, misunderstood, and overcomplicated. The guys agree—most analysts don’t touch them right.
- A deep dive into lanes and pools—why they’re conceptually fine but practically messy. (Stop naming your pool after your process, people!)
- Both want organizational elements as first-class citizens—RACI, org roles, and system links built right into the spec.
- Execution vs. documentation: the eternal BPMN dilemma. Should the spec drive engines, or help humans? (Hint: both.)
- J-M dreams of BPMN models training AI agents. Roland gets heartburn just thinking about it.
- “Lanes need intelligence.” The duo agree that automation, RPA, and AI will force clarity in BPMN sooner rather than later.
- Roland throws shade at the spec’s quality control—gateways aren’t decisions, folks! Read the fine print.
- The conversation drifts into data, risks, and controls—areas where BPMN could learn a lot from EPC and real-world practice.
- We are discussing other objects: “page connectors” (process interfaces), groups, milestones, etc.
- Closing thoughts: BPMN 3.0 should unify the best of documentation and execution, EPC’s expressiveness, and OMG’s rigor—with a bit more consistency, please.
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Additional information
- Here is Pedro Robledo’s article about BPMN: https://medium.com/@pedrorobledobpm/leveraging-bpmn-2-0-to-model-ai-agents-and-challenges-towards-the-necessary-bpmn-3-0-b4fd3b904256
- All the nice images for this episode are in last week’s show notes: https://whatsyourbaseline.com/episode99
- For the three people in our audience who don’t know the EPC notation, please take a look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event-driven_process_chain
- Episodes mentioned today
Credits
Music by Jeremy Voltz, www.jeremyvoltzmusic.com
Roland Woldt is a well-rounded executive with 25+ years of Business Transformation consulting and software development/system implementation experience, in addition to leadership positions within the German Armed Forces (11 years).
He has worked as Team Lead, Engagement/Program Manager, and Enterprise/Solution Architect for many projects. Within these projects, he was responsible for the full project life cycle, from shaping a solution and selling it, to setting up a methodological approach through design, implementation, and testing, up to the rollout of solutions.
In addition to this, Roland has managed consulting offerings during their lifecycle from the definition, delivery to update, and had revenue responsibility for them.
Roland has had many roles: VP of Global Consulting at iGrafx, Head of Software AG’s Global Process Mining CoE, Director in KPMG’s Advisory (running the EA offering for the US firm), and other leadership positions at Software AG/IDS Scheer and Accenture. Before that, he served as an active-duty and reserve officer in the German Armed Forces.
