Frank Michael Kraft's Blog

Today I want to speak about a small pet project that is more fun than serious. I was thinking about future collaboration patterns and to try to make business process modeling more attractive instead of thinking about modeling tool number 101.

That’s when I thought, what if Business Process Modeling could be made more real by means of virtual reality. In know – Second Life is not the place, where one would meet too many Business Process Modelers. But – there are businesses to be fair. Even though the hype is gone, it’ still there and – a place where I could try the idea of more tangible Business Process Modeling in a virtual reality.

Viola.

What, if a group of avatars would meet and collaboratively move around and build the process? Discuss about it, while they watch each other? They could simulate the process and adapt it, if necessary.

Ok – maybe the process is more like the 3D version of a paper or screen type of pattern. So why not try one or the other pattern? Like walk though the process?

Maybe completely new patterns of representing models emerge over time. Maybe it is also an idea to sit at a table and use activities like lego bricks.

Maybe even if 3D is exploited in a better way, sub processes can be displayed together with the main process. Or the whole process is like a big house with many rooms.

Interestingly enough in the last BPM 09 conference in Ulm there was a scientific discussion about tangible process modeling. There was a research project where Activities were made tangible by means of plastic bricks and people moved them around on the table. In the real world I mean. They mentioned the next challenge was to digitalize the result in a more effective way. Well – maybe virtual reality modeling is the solution to this problem. In some future.

So – that’s my fun project.