\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIt works better to create an environment that allows for bottom-up growth instead. Most successful projects start with a developer learning about a tool somewhere and playing around with it. Once they understand the possibilities, they become enthusiastic about it and test it out by pushing a project into production. At this point, a proper evaluation of the tool can be conducted. A good balance is to develop an environment where grassroots initiatives can start and then support the most promising ones to drive adoption. Scaling adoption should always come as a second step. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n3) Resist the temptation to create your own platform<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\nThere are usually two reasons to build such a platform: companies don\u2019t want to depend on the vendor. They need some integration into company specifics that all projects can leverage. But making such a platform is a risky endeavor for multiple reasons. It\u2019s hard to set up a process automation platform, and attempting it will distract you from delivering business value. It makes it hard to include learnings gleaned from later projects as you settle on specific architecture primitives very early in your journey.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n4) <\/span>Work agile and<\/span><\/b> concentrate on delivering business value from day <\/span><\/b>one<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\nThis is a critical step in the process. <\/span>You have <\/span>to get started with<\/span> a concrete project that solves some immediate business pain. Avoid strategic platform initiatives for as long as possible. Doing too much strategic work too early has a high risk that you don\u2019t deliver any business value for a long time. Not to mention, you\u2019ll likely get stuck shaping a complex platform without understanding its use case. Favor agile development approaches that develop workflow solutions iteratively and incrementally. This allows you to align with business goals, learn fast and let these learnings correct your course. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n5) Avoid starting with process architecture or process landscape initiatives <\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\nSome companies try to capture all of their processes in a process landscape and sketch out those processes first, often as a basis to prioritize automation projects. But you can\u2019t expect to derive ready-to-be-used process models for your automation projects upfront. When you know how a process automation project should work, you\u2019ll be better able to design process models and sketch process architectures later. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n6) Embrace and learn from failures<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\nEmbrace a culture where failures are openly discussed to learn from. Vendors\u2019 or consulting companies\u2019 best practices (or books) can be a good starting point, but they can\u2019t replace finding your way. Once you get going, use those learnings to <\/span>improve your practices<\/span>. An excellent way to <\/span>make sure essential learnings are captured <\/span>is to transform <\/span>the early <\/span>project teams into a center of excellence, allowing <\/span>those folks to shape and consult upcoming projects<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n7) Let project teams breathe and make their own decisions <\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\nLast, avoid rigid standardization at the outset of an automation journey. Project teams need the freedom to choose the right tools and have a say in the best practices the organization will use in its process automation journey. Teams <\/span>must <\/span>understand that their decisions will impact future iterations of the project and decisions regarding platform technologies. But they need to have a certain amount of autonomy to encourage experimentation that could lead to greater value over time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nA successful process automation project usually follows a step-by-step approach that starts slowly, with a pilot, followed by a handful of projects to foster learnings that will guide future steps. Moving forward step-by-step, not trying to do it all at once, will help automation journeys navigate past avoidable early pitfalls.<\/span><\/p>\n
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![\"How](\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/files\/2022\/04\/How-to-Avoid-Common-Process-Automation-Project-Pitfalls.jpg\")
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<\/span>M<\/span>ore than nine in 10 IT leaders say they consider process automation <\/span>critical to achieving business optimization and efficiency<\/span><\/a>, and<\/span> organizations <\/span>launch<\/span> more automation projects than ever before.\u202fBut many initiatives are bogging down shortly after they get started. Organizations lose a lot of m<\/span>omentum when they don\u2019t follow a proven path and, as a result, often focus on the wrong things<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Download](\"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/business-process-management\/files\/2019\/02\/bpm-vm-speedbump.png\")
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