Business Process Management literature has proposed several BPM lifecycles on a level of abstraction that is "modeling method"-agnostic, i.e. they consider the modeling language and tool support an underlying invariant or technological concern. While remaining on the same abstraction layer, we highlight a "method agility" requirement observed in commercial BPM consulting projects - concretely, it manifests as change requests for the modeling language or tool, from one lifecycle iteration to the next, leading to situations of "model value co-creation" as customer demands are assimilated in the modeling method. Based on a conceptualization of such situations, a lifecycle "plug-in" is proposed in the form of a methodology and associated tool support, allowing for responsive evolution of the adopted modeling method with impact on several lifecycle phases. Historical examples from the evolution of a BPM product are provided to illustrate and classify the demands that motivate the existence of this "lifecycle plug-in".

Top