45ck Purpose
Understand the current process, surface pain points, and define an improved target process.
Use when
- process inefficiency or inconsistency is a core issue
- as-is/to-be modelling is needed
- handoffs, roles, and decisions are not well understood
Inputs
- project or problem context
- goals and constraints
- known stakeholders, systems, and documents
- level of formality required
Procedure
- Define the business event, actors, boundaries, and outcome.
- Document the as-is process with tasks, flow, decisions, and handoffs.
- Identify bottlenecks, duplication, ambiguity, and failure points.
- Challenge assumptions and piecemeal modifications.
- Design the to-be process with explicit improvements.
- Compare as-is and to-be via a gap list.
- Capture benefits, risks, and change implications.
- Provide diagram-ready specs for UML activity or BPMN modelling.
Outputs
- as-is process spec
- to-be process spec
- gap analysis
- improvement actions
- diagram instructions
Guardrails
- Explicitly separate fact, inference, and assumption.
- Prefer evidence-backed conclusions over polished speculation.
- Where conflict exists, record it rather than smoothing it away.
- Produce artifacts that can be inspected, edited, and reused.
Completion criteria
- deliverable pack exists
- tradeoffs are explicit
- unknowns are logged
- next decisions are obvious