What's Your Baseline? Enterprise Architecture & Business Process Management Demystified
Business & Economics Podcasts
Location:
United States
Description:
This show is about Enterprise Architecture and Business Process Management, and how you can set up your practice to get the most out of it. It is for newbies who just get started with these topics, organizations who want to improve their EA/BPM groups (and the value that they get from it), as well as practitioners who want to get a different perspective and care about the discipline. Learn more about the show and read articles about EA and BPM on www.whatsyourbaseline.com.
Language:
English
Episodes
Ep. 87 - Process Management Education: Matúš Mala
3/24/2025
BPM is important because everything that we do in organizations are processes.
So, why don't we agree on a common nomenclature, and educate people with a standardized curriculum? Oh, it is because the players have a vested interested in coming up with “the next best thing” and selling it to your customers?
But there is the need for a basic training for everyone (?) in an organization about process management, and the guest in this episode, Matúš Mala, is working on creating the foundation for this.
Matúš is a BPM philanthropist & coach, podcast host, independent [Business] Process Management & Automation advocate, organizer of the BPM-Munich, meetup, trainer, mentor, servant leader, career advisor, solution architect, agile developer … or to say it in other words: a busy man.
He is currently fascinated by all aspects of modern BPM, including hyperautomation, citizen development, automation fabric and other hot trends. As a lecturer at the TH Augsburg, I have the opportunity to pass on my knowledge and passion for these topics.
In this episode of the podcast, we are talking about:
Matúš can be contacted via LinkedIn and you can find him at the Process Academy and SCR Consulting.
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or sign up for our newsletter and get informed when we publish new episodes here: https://www.whatsyourbaseline.com/subscribe/.
Duration:01:04:43
Ep. 86 - Successful Architecture Implementation (Roland wrote a book)
3/10/2025
We are trying something new here at What's Your Baseline? — J-M turns his focus on investigative journalism and starts asking the “hard questions” (and not just the softballs that I get from him at other times) :-)
But in all seriousness — this episode of the podcast is a conversation between the two of us, while I play the guest role and did not cheat and did not look into our Notion outline while recording.
So, what is it all about? Well — some of you might have heard — I wrote a book, which will be officially published soon (this month!). And since it is about the first and second most popular topics of all What's Your Baseline? podcasts, I think it is highly relevant for our audience.
In this episode of the podcast, we talk about:
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or sign up for our newsletter and get informed when we publish new episodes here: https://www.whatsyourbaseline.com/subscribe/.
Duration:01:01:45
Ep; 85 - OKRs: Ben Lamorte
2/24/2025
I was late to the game when I got exposed to the concept of OKRs a few years ago. Before that, I thought that it was just another term for setting objectives, and you can dump a million of those onto your people.
But there is a different approach, a much gentler approach to OKRs, that makes more sense to me now. And because I found that mental change so interesting, I was excited when Ben Lamorte reached out to me and asked if he could be a guest on the show.
And of course, I said “yes”.
Ben Lamorte is a leading figure in the space of “Objectives and Key Results” (OKRs). He has more OKRs coaching experience than anyone on the planet. Ben is a coach to business leaders focused on defining and making measurable progress on their most important goals. He started OKRs.com in 2014 and over the past decade has helped 200+ organizations based in 20+ countries implement OKRs including eBay, Adobe, Capital One, 3M, ServiceNow, Zalando, and Nike.
After co-authoring one of the first books dedicated to OKRs, Ben wrote The OKRs Field Book, the first book written specifically for OKRs coaches, published by Wiley in 2022. He studied Engineering and Mathematics at the University of California, Davis and holds a graduate degree in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University.
In this episode of the podcast, we are talking about:
Ben can be found on LinkedIn and contacted via his website at okrs.com.
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or sign up for our newsletter and get informed when we publish new episodes here: https://www.whatsyourbaseline.com/subscribe/.
Duration:00:54:55
Ep. 84 - Unleashed Enterprise Architecture: Leslie Robinet
2/10/2025
One misconception that many people have is that EA is just “that IT stuff”. Nothing is more false than that.
If you *really* look at an enterprise, you will see that a full architecture encompasses all layers from strategy through business (processes, risks, orgs, etc.) to data, apps, and technology.
But the real benefit is that you can create a line of sight through all these layers. This will help you not only to identify the as-is and how you should change based on where you are, but also allow you to connect all people who are happy sitting in their silos.
That is why we invited Leslie Robinet to be the guest of this episode.
Leslie is passionate about continuous improvement, practicing and promoting being an agent of positive change. She has leveraged this for the benefit of clients through her career in consulting and services. These values are also present in her commitment to volunteering and associations, with environmental and human considerations.
Leslie's dedication to sustainable development goes beyond a personal reach. On the associative side, actively involved in volunteer work since her youth, she invests locally by being one of the founders of “Mon Epice’Rit”, a co-operative grocery store demonstrating values of solidarity and ecology. Through this vector they raise awareness locally through presentations and workshops.
In this episode of thepodcast, we are talking about:
You can find Leslie onLinkedIn and reach out to her company to get in contact.
Please reach out to us by either sending an email tohello@whatsyourbaseline.com or sign up for our newsletter and get informed when we publish new episodes here:https://www.whatsyourbaseline.com/subscribe/.
Duration:00:55:30
Ep. 83 - Process Community: Hanneke Loefs-Mos
1/27/2025
Why are so many organizations out there that have not discovered BPM (and in extension “architecture”) as something that can help their business problems, and also set the foundation for future growth?
Some reasons might lie in the niche characteristics (to avoid saying “nerdy”) of BPM and the lack of shared community and branding. That is why we invited our current guest to the podcast.
Hanneke's motto is to “Embrace the Chaos”: Creating structure during transition. She focuses on processes, finance, and systems with a human touch by implementing Business Process Management (BPM) so that she can be the linking pin between strategy and operations.
Her background is within the range of Startups (CFO Laevo exoskeletons) and global Corporates (Schiphol Airport/ ETG commodities) in various Industries. Hanneke is an open and engaging personality with a fair and critical mindset — which one can hear within the first few minutes of the episode :-)
In this episode of the podcast we are talking about:
Hanneke can be found on LinkedIn and at her website, www.olcama.nl.
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or sign up for our newsletter and get informed when we publish new episodes here: https://www.whatsyourbaseline.com/subscribe/.
Duration:00:46:34
Ep. 82 - Process Analysis
1/13/2025
Welcome back to a new year and Season 8 of the What's Your Baseline Podcast, and we are starting with an episode that closes the loop with two other episodes (links below): “Process Mining Analysis” and “Lean and Process Mining”.
Today we are talking about Process Analysis in general, and we are thinking of the new business analyst especially, who doesn't know where to start or does not have a Process Mining tool at his/her disposal.
In this episode of the podcast, we talk about:
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or leaving us a voice message by clicking here.
Duration:00:59:48
Season 8 Trailer
1/8/2025
Hey, this is Roland from the What's Your Baseline? Podcast and J.M. was also happy to be here.
Yeah. We're looking forward to our next season, season eight of the What's Your Baseline podcast. Who believes that?
So, J.M. Tell me, what's in stock for season eight?
Well, we've listened to you. You've left us amazing feedback all over the internet, and we're going to make things shorter, snappier, more visual and most importantly for our season eight, forward-looking.
We will spend 2025 talking about the future of process and architecture because we know that you want to see what's coming down the road to be able to prepare yourself, your practices and to create the right kind of value at the right time for your organization.
That sounds super great, J.M. And with that, I wish you all will join in the next episode of the What's Your Baseline Podcast because season eight will be great!
Duration:00:00:56
Ep. 81 - 2024 in Review
12/16/2024
The end is near … no, not what you are thinking.
2024 comes to a close in about two weeks, and we also end Season 7 of the podcast. And a lot has happened — in the industry, with tools, changes in companies and the life of people in our small community.
Tune in to learn about our thoughts about what we’ve seen in the last year and an outlook for 2025. And there is also an interesting announcement in it 😉
In this episode of the What’s Your Baseline Podcast we talk about:
BPM WalksThe Digital Formula
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or leaving us a voice message by clicking here.
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Duration:01:12:23
Ep. 80 - Execution-Aligned Strategy: Dan Marquez and Craig Overmars
12/2/2024
How do you bridge the gaps between Strategy and Execution, and how do you evolve execution as strategy pivots? That are the questions that are the topic of our podcast this week - the first of two episodes of a collaboration with the "Strateg-ish" podcast, run by our friends Craig Overmars and Dan Marquez, who has been a guest on our show before.
This episode looks at strategy with the perspective that an architect might have - how is it done, what are the outcomes that one can align to, etc. In the second episode, which will be out on the Strateg-ish channel soon, we discuss the opposite side of this: what can strategists expect and what do they have to know when they are doing their work and expect it to be implemented.
Both, Dan and Craig, have a background in strategy and worked in various consulting organizations and are now working in this field at Google.
In this episode of the podcast we are talking about:
Craig and Dan can be found on LinkedIn (of course) and their "Strategish" podcast can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/show/3h5l2eefFGb9YtPvUVnsDn?si=f8c690a4b197408a.
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or leaving us a voice message by clicking here.
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Duration:00:55:19
Ep. 79 - GRC From a Process Perspective: Michael Schank
11/18/2024
GRC — three letters that scare a lot of people. So much that they like to avoid thinking of risks and compliance at all.
But don’t be afraid (quite the opposite), GRC can not only be an addition to your artifacts to make them better, they can also benefit to your program by “having the ear” of influential people in your organization … who, by coincidence, can generate budget out of nowhere, it seems.
And we are happy to welcome Michael Schank (again) who has worked in that space in the financial industry for years.
Michael is a distinguished thought leader and executive, specializing in addressing Digital Transformation and Operational Excellence challenges through his innovative, process-based framework. With over 25 years of experience in the Financial Services industry, he has primarily served as a management consultant, empowering clients with forward-thinking solutions in technology, process, and risk and spearheading large-scale business and digital transformations. Michael brings a powerful combination of superior sales and delivery skills, having personally sold and delivered over $100M in consulting services.
He is the author of the book, ‘Digital Transformation Success,’ in which he introduces his groundbreaking Process Inventory framework. This promises to be a transformative approach to achieving success in the digital era, unlocking unprecedented levels of operational efficiency and strategic alignment.
In this episode of the podcast we are talking about:
Michael can be found on LinkedIn (of course) and on his website at https://www.processinventory.com/.
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or leaving us a voice message by clicking here.
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Duration:00:49:55
Ep. 78 - EA Use Cases
11/4/2024
I know that this might be a cultural issue, but I don't see a lot of planning when it comes to projects anymore. Everything is "Agile" and I don't see that things are seen through that often.
Which is bad, because one of the promises of EA (and BPM) is that someone understands how things are wired up and what to change, so that you accomplish your objective - which should always be business-driven FWIW.
From my perspective this is a step back in the maturity of the discipline of Enterprise Architecture. And given the fact that the maturity was never high to start with, this is not a good development.
To help a bit in this situation J-M and I talk about EA use cases to give you some direction what you can do when you decide that this is a capability that you want to implement in your organization.
In this episode of the What's Your Baseline Podcast we talk about:
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or leaving us a voice message by clicking here.
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Duration:00:55:47
Ep. 77 - Mergers & Acquisitions: Luca de Risi and Nick Reed
10/21/2024
There was a big splash in the Enterprise Architecture tool market a few weeks ago - BizzDesign announced that they will merge with Mega and an unnamed third party (which we will learn about in Q4 soon, but cannot name here at this time). But why these two (three) players and why now?
Since we know some people in the industry, I reached out to Luca de Risi from Mega and we quickly came up with the idea of doing a show about Mergers & Acquisitions and not only talk about the current example, but also more generally about ownership models, how M&A comes together, and what that means for the involved organizations.
Our first guest doesn't need an introduction since he has been on the show already: Luca de Risi. Luca is Mega’s Chief Executive Officer and he held various leadership positions at the firm before that, like, being the country manager for the APAC business while being located in Singapore, or as Business Development Executive in the United States. He started his career as an internal auditor for a major French car maker before joining Mega.
Our second guest is Nick Reed, the Chief Strategy Officer of BizzDesign. He is a senior software and services leader with a successful track record of building and leading teams in high growth software technology companies. Strategy development and execution, M&A, value proposition development, strategic partnerships and analyst relations. Nick builds long term relationships with customers, with a relentless focus on business value and customer success and is a strong cross-functional team player, connecting the dots across sales, marketing, product, services and customer success for strategic initiatives.
In this episode of the podcast we are talking about:
Luca and Nick can be reached on LinkedIn. More detailed information about the merger is available here: https://bizzdesign.com/bizzdesign-merger-enterprise-transformation/.
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or leaving us a voice message by clicking here.
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Duration:00:54:56
Ep. 76 - BPM/EA Misconceptions: Caspar Jans & Russell Gomersall
10/7/2024
Oh, why do I need a special EA/BPM tool? I am managing my apps in a spreadsheet just fine. That is one of the misconceptions that I have heard over the last twenty-something years of me helping clients to stand up practices and increase their EA/BPM maturity. And there are tons more of those ...
Well, our first guest doesn't need an introduction since he has been on the show already: Caspar Jans. But for those of you who don't know him, he is not only working in the BPM space for decades but is also the co-host of the BPM360 Podcast, being recognized as a Top 50 voice in operational excellence by the PEX / Process Excellence Network in 2023, and he writes a newsletter on LinkedIn.
Our second guest is Russell Gomersall, who is the other co-host of the BPM360 Podcast and is a Senior Partner at bpExperts GmbH. His expertise lies in developing and applying the BusinessFlows-MetamodeI, bpExperts proprietary method for process-centric business transformations, and leading the TechLab, their competence center for technology-driven process optimization. Russell also act as the Chief Cheerleader and Value Owner of Passion, one of his core values, and fosters a culture of enthusiasm, engagement, and collaboration among bpExpert's team and customers.
In this episode of the podcast we are talking about (and I am not sure if we used all of the misconceptions below, but so be it):
Caspar is easy to reach on LinkedIn and also has a website that contains his writings (and his newsletter "Process Extraordinaire Weekly" on LinkedIn here). Russel can be found on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russellgomersall/.
You can find their podcast BPM360 wherever you get your podcasts or on their website: https://www.bpm360podcast.com/.
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or leaving us a voice message by clicking here.
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Duration:01:02:09
Ep. 75 - Business Architecture For A New Product: Mike DeCamp
9/23/2024
Do you need Business Architects when creating a new product? Isn't that a bit redundant when you have highly-paid Product Managers already? Or is there an overlap between the two that will create a better product for the end users, but also for the organization because they can better support it and it is aligned with the underlying process.
Our guest this week is Mike DeCamp, who has over 15 years of professional experience in business analysis, project management, and process improvement. He is a Senior Product Manager at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), one of the world's leading cancer research and treatment centers.
Mike has earned multiple certifications in Business Benefits Realization, Change Management, Business & Enterprise Architecture, and Financial Literacy, and is a proficient thought leader in areas of strategy development and cross functional leadership.
In this episode of the podcast we are talking about:
To reach out to Mike via LinkedIn have a look here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-decamp-cba%C2%AE-02bb6b2/
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or leaving us a voice message by clicking here.
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Duration:00:51:13
Ep. 74 - Process Mining Readiness: Olaf Geyer
9/9/2024
A lot of folks who are beginning with Process Mining see this as a technical or academic exercise and just want to know “how things works”.
But what is that worth? You need to be able to implement changes based on your analysis. Otherwise, the exercise has no value IMHO (besides if it is a Proof-of-Concept in a sales situation, but even then you should choose a process that you get some actionable insights from).
We are speaking with Olaf Geyer about this topic. Olaf is a very experienced BPM consultant and held multiple leadership roles in the past, such as Consulting Director, Customer Success Director, or leading the Consulting Team for the Americas at one BPM software vendor.
These days he is working in the professional services organization at Software AG and is focussing on Process Mining and the consulting methodology that his team uses when working with clients. The Process Mining Readiness Assessment is one of the “products” that came out of that work.
In this episode of the podcast we are talking about:
Olaf can be reached on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ogeyer/.
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or leaving us a voice message by clicking here.
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Duration:00:42:29
Ep. 73 - Leading High-Performance Architecture Teams: Amy Levine
8/26/2024
Some organizations seem to perform better, create results faster, and the people in those organizations seem to have fun on top if this? But how can that be when you are currently stretched in all directions and don't know how to get stuff done?
In this episode we are talking with Amy Levine, who is an expert in neuroscience and how it impacts high-performance teams and the leaders (and their leadership style). Science to the rescue!
After a decade leading global productivity for Fortune 100 companies, Amy ventured on her own to help even more high-potential organizations improve performance and profitability. It's been a fascinating ride.
She partners with leaders and organizations to build high-performing cultures and achieve accelerated growth. With a focus on science-based strategies and proven methodologies, Amy helps clients improve stakeholder collaboration, optimize processes, and drive award-winning results. As a seasoned facilitator and coach, she creates inclusive environments for open dialogue and peer exchange, ensuring effective communication and goal achievement.
In this episode of the podcast we are talking about:
Amy can be found on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyllevine
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or leaving us a voice message by clicking here.
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Duration:00:51:01
Season 7 Trailer
8/22/2024
Hey J-M, what do think when you hear the word “seven”?
Well, maybe the seven wonders of the world? Seven rings? Seven deadly sins? My favourite song by Ariana Grande?
Hmm, these are all good ideas, but how about a Season 7 of the What’s Your Baseline podcast?
No way, what do we have in store for this season?
A mix of interviews and topic shows, just as in all of the last seasons. But we also will mix up some things - we will do video podcasts in addition to the audio podcasts now, And we’ll keep it short and sweet!
But what stays the same is the high-quality content that you expect from us and brought us to over 35,000 downloads. So, hang on a bit and we will be back with Season 7 next Monday August 26!
See you then!
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Duration:00:00:56
Ep. 72 - The Retirement Challenge: Peggy McCann
7/10/2024
Some organizations are like a ticking time bomb when it comes to their processes and (IT) architecture.
"The old guard" is about to leave the organization in masses (and sometimes not voluntarily) and a lot of knowledge about how things are wired up - which is what architecture is all about, right? - will leave as well. And not too many organizations are prepared for this, and rather pretend that the young kid fresh from college can fill the hole. Note to those orgs: they won't.
Our guest in this episode is Peggy McCann - she is a veteran business professional who has specialized working in areas that transform business operations. Peggy worked extensively in process mapping and process improvement utilizing new and emerging technologies. She developed workflows for companies that installed new ERP systems that necessitated corporate culture and process change, and worked on multi-national implementations advising and working to meld program roll out to national standards and diverse cultures both internal and external.
Peggy is a project leader covering process engineering; functional/system integration; process controls and system security, and does business advisement for entrepreneurs; financial tracking, marketing, web presence, and ecommerce. She is an advisor for game development firm dealing with internet safety for children, multi user controls and guidelines - community work establishing and defining arts in action.
In this episode of the podcast we are talking about:
Peggy can be found on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peggy-mccann-147b564/.
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or leaving us a voice message by clicking here.
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Duration:00:55:33
Ep. 71 - Business Architecture Implementation - A User Story: Breanne Casteel
6/17/2024
How do I get started? What is the first thing that I look at? Who will be my allies? What do I need to put in place? When you are tasked to build a brand new Business Architecture practice in an organization that has not had one before is a challenging task. When you have to do this in a 60-year old organization in a field that is relatively unique on the market, that might be even more challenging.
Our guest in this episode is Breanne Casteel, a catalyst for change enablement through collaboration and connections to drive empathetic business solutions.
She is a passionate advocate with 20+ years experience bringing awareness of Business Architecture and Business Analysis skills and mindset to numerous roles in the organization with an emphasis on communication, transparency, and collaboration across silos.
In this episode of the podcast we are talking about:
You can find Breanne on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/breannecasteel/.
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or leaving us a voice message by clicking here.
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Duration:01:00:49
Ep. 70 - BPM Use Cases
6/3/2024
"I just bought your tool, now you have to tell me what I can do with it".
No kidding, that is what one client to said to me once. Well, here is a starter for you - in our latest episodes we are talking about the use cases for Business Process Management (not all of them, because we have that self-imposed limit of an hour-ish length for each episode).
In this episode of the What's Your Baseline Podcast we talk about:
Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or leaving us a voice message by clicking here.
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Duration:01:10:47
