The Monday Clinic
Our in-house specialists help readers with their most sensitive issues. Anonymity guaranteed.
This week’s letter is from a reader in the FMCG sector:
Dear CIO Doctor,
How can I help my business colleagues deal with their dyslexia? I have invested millions to create a process repository for the business. But no-one outside of my EA team uses it. They complained that EPC was "too difficult" to understand [I mean, are they bozos? How do they keep their jobs?]. So I invested again to translate them all from EPC into BPMN because that is designed ‘to enable understanding and communication across the enterprise’. But still they say that "can't read them". Is there a cure for their kind of dyslexia?
Yours truly,
Ms Piazza [full name and address supplied]
Dear Margherita,
First of all, don’t worry - this sort of situation is far more common than you'd think. And there are treatments available.
First off, it could be just that they are using earlier versions. So try dispensing the BPMN V2.0 wallposter to your business colleagues. It's a remarkable summary of the 516 page specification.
If that doesn't work, then it's time to check that it's not a false positive: they may not actually have dyslexia. To do this, try to find a common language for process - something that's rigorous but intuitive. We don't know why exactly, but this is a treatment that will often cure their dyslexia immediately - so when you and your team speak with the business, you can both understand each other. One day the science will catch up and we'll make sense of it, no doubt!
Thanks for getting in touch, Margherita. Good luck - and don’t forget your LinkedIn password because you might need it soon.
Yours,
The CIO Doctor
Previously on The CIO Clinic: Curing The ERP Hangover

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