Who owns the business process?

This is so simple it should not even have to be said, but I've seen it wrong so many times, so lets recap quickly:

BAs do not own the business process

Architechts do not own the business process

Workflow implmentation teams do not own the business proces

The process improvement team does not own the business process

Your high-fallutin' BPM consultant does not own the business process

The person who owns the business process is, unsprisingly enough, the business.

You can question, suggest, cajole, advise, and escalate - but the people who will run, manage, and live with the process long after you're gone are always the ones who have to be in chage.

To think you can waltz in and make big changes without causing flow-on effects takes a lot of arrogance, or a lot of incompotence, or some combination of the two.

It's all about having respect for the stakeholders and realising that as a BA you're working for the business, not on the business.