Re: Turtle Diagram Question
Andy
Do you not think that both the turtle approach and the diagram in your article risk giving a reader a simplified (and often false) idea that the inputs all go in at the start, and the outputs (and other outcomes) all come out at the end of a process?
In practice, some inputs may go in almost at the end of a process and, in the same way, some outputs may appear very shortly after the process gets under way.
And it is interesting that you say that "Most business processes have some form of goal or objective..." - I would hope that they all do, otherwise people are wasting their time following them... But it is interesting (and worrying?) that the ISO definition doesn't mention the idea of an objective at all!
Possibly, Peter, but since no tool is correct for all tasks, it's a lot easier to find one which works for most cases, than worrying about all the possibilities for all situations and end up with nothing...
I have tried turtles - and not found them too helpful - and have spent 15 years teaching auditors using something akin to the football. Apparently, it works! It's worked for me as an auditor and it worked for others, too. Mine takes care of the interaction of other processes, which I don't believe the turtle does, it just 'lumps them into a bucket', not giving consideration to when they might influence the process.
Give me some examples of inputs which come later in the process? What's your solution to that? It might be just the way you're looking at the diagram...