Suitable for Business Process Management Summit Gartner I would like to respond to a point therein, which has long been known, as well as Dr. Bartonitz in his blog writes. But nevertheless, this point often leads to projects that fail. I want it to represent something visually, and therefore call it the rabbit problem. The rabbit problem

My neighbor goes on vacation and asks you politely if you can take care of during his absence for his rabbit. Of course, you take over this task like, it also seems not too much effort to be taking care of a rabbit. The neighbor grabbed the stuff and leaves you a little list of the main points:

1. Once a day, add water and food
2. Every two days, a handful of fresh salad
3. Clean the cage once a week

No problem at all. The neighbor is indeed back in 3 weeks. The next day you start your new obligations and now you deal with every day in performing the tasks.

At the end of the first week you notice that the rabbit is behaving weird. When you look in the evening for safety reasons once again after the animal you are surprised. The animal was apparently pregnant and now has 9 little rabbit babies thrown. Slightly overwhelmed and irritated easily put down at the computer and google how to have babies to care for rabbits.

The next day you buy the little ones comfortable in the pet store have a heat lamp and stray so special. When you call your neighbor on vacation to inform him of the joyful message tells you that he has fallen in love on vacation and now emigrated to Spain. As a reminder, he gladly leaves the rabbit family, because you do indeed care about so movingly. So fast are the animals now apparently no longer happening.

When you want to fill in the following week with your new best friend, the animal action salesperson, the food reserves for your rabbit to get into a discussion. He is firmly convinced that we should vaccinate the little rabbit-babies as quickly as possible. His arguments are plausible and arrange an appointment with a veterinarian for vaccinations. By now you deal every day for several hours with the care and rearing of their new roommate.

At the vet made a sensational discovery. Four of the rabbit-babies are pregnant! No one knows how these things can go. Nobody would have ever suspected. But it is so.

8 weeks later you have another 35 rabbits babies. By now you have converted your entire office into a "rabbit-oasis" and wonder why some of the babies to stop from the first litter does not grow?? With a 50 cm Schultermaß you did not expect the construction of the "rabbit-oasis". You know so slowly anymore.

Half a year later:

In the discussion with the architect who planned the new rabbit farming, the architect asks, how did you get the crazy idea to create so many rabbits (now there are over 200), one of which is larger than the other? You think about it and remember the little task, and the list with the three points. It was all so simple then ...

END

What's that mean anything now? Before I report yet another of biological phenomena, I would like to come to the point. Some will have already determined discovered parallels. Who is this wondrous rabbit should you care only very briefly and without any problems for three weeks?

In everyday life, especially in project work, it is guaranteed to know very many. This rabbit is called a "problem".

Often, a BPM project begins with a problem. This one is supposed to loosen, you take the matter to be happy, because it seems to be an exciting task. It is perhaps not always easy, but you have to solve the problem, fire and flame. But all too often take the projects described above course.

Especially with BPM projects with many different stakeholders from different areas with different perspectives on the problem and the process it is difficult to focus the real problem. If you have after each meeting five new sites you will probably never finish the project successfully. This is not new ( see point 1 ), but unfortunately still not uncommon aptly reason why projects have failed. Often it is sufficient if one is aware. You must also meet anybody on the head and say that his problem is not just interested. You just have to make it clear that one can only solve one problem after another, otherwise you will never be finished.

Therefore, you always think well of the rabbit when you get to the next meeting once again completely new sites being served.

A study of other reasons why projects fail, you will find here .