Facing a growing pressure of industrial competition, companies acquire crucial competitive advantage by installing innovative work-processes. Therefore, it is most important to support the development of creative ideas forming innovative processes under modelling. Our hy-pothesis is that under the condition of collaborative mod-elling creative thinking is constrained whereas a modelling thinking style is forced. To overcome this, we present a solution based on a seamless integration and demand-oriented switch of both styles of thinking. We use the STWT method as an example to demonstrate our solution.

1. Seamless integration of collaborative
creativity techniques into group
process modelling
Alexander Nolte, Angela Carell
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2. Collaborative creativity
and process design RUB
• Installing innovative work-processes is a crucial
success factor in modern businesses
• Collaborative modelling (esp. STWT) constrains
creative thinking as it enforces a modelling thinking
style
• A creative thinking style is required for innovative
solutions
 A demand-oriented switch of both styles of
thinking is required
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3. Participatory
process modelling RUB
• Method:
– Walkthrough workshops (STWT) involving all
relevant process stakeholders
– Simultaneous visualization
• Advantages:
– Transparency for all participants
– Focused contributions according to the
process
• Problem:
– Constrains thinking to known solutions
 Modelling thinking style
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4. Creative idea development
RUB
• Method:
– Brainstorming in several different styles
• Advantages:
– Wild ideas
– Thinking outside of the box
• Problem:
– Far reaching yet unstructured ideas that are
not necessarily useful for the given context
 Creative thinking style
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5. Our proposition
RUB
• The creative process should seamlessly be integrated
into the modelling process
• Goal: Breaking the rigid concentration on process-
modelling without losing its advantages
• First-hand experience: Integrating brainstorming into
a process modelling tool developed by our group
 The facilitator can – at any time during the workshops –
create brainstorming areas anywhere in the model
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6. Integration of brainstorming
into process modelling RUB
Tested in different participatory process design workshops
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7. Conclusion
RUB
• Compared to similar workshops more alternatives were
developed
• More controversial discussion arose
• Process model provided context and frame for the
brainstorming resulting in the development of more useful
ideas
• Seamless switching between different brainstorming
areas empowered flexibility
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8. Future work
RUB
• Further experiments to shed light onto the relationship
between process development and creative thinking
• Provide methods and tools to
– Support additional creativity techniques
– Support the transition from a clustered brainstorming result to a
full scale process model
• Making the switch between thinking styles easier
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9. RUB
Thank you for your kind attention
alexander.nolte@iaw.rub.de
www.imtm-iaw.rub.de
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