Ever looked at a corporate flowchart and felt like you were staring at a bowl of spaghetti? We've all been there. You have these massive binders full of "Standard Operating Procedures" that nobody actually reads, while the actual work happens in a series of frantic emails and "quick sync" meetings. This disconnect is exactly what Paul Harmon spent decades trying to fix.
The Paul Harmon model isn't just one single diagram. It’s a comprehensive framework for Business Process Management (BPM) that treats a company like a living organism rather than a static machine. Honestly, most people get BPM wrong because they think it’s just about drawing pretty pictures of how work flows. Harmon argues it's about alignment. If your high-level strategy doesn't talk to your daily activities, you're just spinning wheels.
The Pyramid That Actually Makes Sense
Most consultants love to dive straight into the weeds. They want to talk about how a specific invoice gets processed. Harmon says that’s a mistake. He famously uses a "BPM Pyramid" to help executives realize where they are actually standing.
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At the very top, you have the Enterprise Level. This is where the big-picture stuff lives—the value chains and the overall architecture. Move down a step, and you hit the Process Level. This is where you look at specific workflows like "Order-to-Cash" or "Product Development." Finally, at the bottom, is the Implementation Level. This is where the actual humans (or robots) do the work.
The magic happens in the vertical alignment. If you change a button in a software app at the bottom, but it doesn't help the value chain at the top, you've wasted money. Simple as that.
Why the Scope Diagram is Your Best Friend
You've probably seen a BPMN flow diagram—those boxes and arrows that look like a technical manual. They're useful, but Harmon pushes something called a Scope Diagram first. It’s a bit of a reality check.
Instead of asking "how do we do this?" the Scope Diagram asks "who cares about this?" You put the process in a circle in the middle. Then, you map out the stakeholders, the inputs, and the outputs.
- Inputs: What do we need to start? (Data, raw materials, a customer request).
- Outputs: What does the customer actually get?
- Guides: What rules or policies are we following?
- Enablers: What tools or people do we need?
Basically, if you can't define the boundaries of a process, you can't fix it. I've seen teams spend months "optimizing" a process only to realize they were optimizing something that shouldn't have existed in the first place.
The Geary Rummler Connection
It is worth noting that Harmon didn't invent all of this in a vacuum. He stands on the shoulders of giants like Geary Rummler. If you’ve ever used a "swimlane" diagram—where you see different departments as horizontal rows—you’re using a tool Harmon helped popularize through his BPTrends associates.
He took those 1980s performance concepts and updated them for the digital age. He realized that in a world of SaaS and AI, the "human performance" element is still the biggest variable. You can have the most expensive software in the world, but if the person using it doesn't understand the goal, the process fails.
Common Misconceptions About Process Change
A lot of managers think BPM is a "one and done" project. They hire a firm, get a report, and put it on a shelf. Harmon’s work suggests that’s total nonsense.
- Automation isn't the cure-all. Automating a broken process just makes the errors happen faster. You have to redesign before you automate.
- IT shouldn't lead the charge. While IT builds the tools, the business owners must own the process. If a process belongs to "the computer guy," the people on the floor won't care about making it better.
- Measurement is hard. Most companies measure the wrong things. They measure "activity" (how many calls did we take?) instead of "outcomes" (did we solve the customer's problem?).
How to Actually Apply This
If you’re sitting in an office wondering how to make things suck less, start with the "Top-Down" approach. Stop looking at individual tasks for a second.
Look at your value chain. How does your company actually make money? Is every step in your current project contributing to that value chain? If you can’t draw a straight line from a daily task to a strategic goal, that task is probably "waste" in Lean terms.
Harmon’s methodology, especially as laid out in his book Business Process Change, is really a call to be more intentional. It’s about moving from a company that "does things" to a "process-centric" company.
Actionable Next Steps
To move forward with the Paul Harmon model, you shouldn't try to boil the ocean. Start small.
First, identify one "broken" process that everyone complains about. Don't draw a flowchart yet. Instead, create a Scope Diagram. Identify exactly who the customer is for that process and what they expect. Often, you'll find that the "customer" is actually another department inside your own building.
Second, check for alignment. Ask the people doing the work if they know why they are doing it. If their answer doesn't match the company’s strategic goals, you have a "gap" in your pyramid. Closing that gap is usually more effective than buying a new piece of software.
Finally, establish a "BPM Group" or at least a regular meeting where process owners talk to each other. Silos are where processes go to die. By forcing different departments to look at the same value chain, you break down the walls that cause most corporate headaches.