Real-World Decision Modeling with DMN – my next book

I am delighted to announce a collaboration with Jan Purchase of LuxMagi on a new book, Real-World Decision Modeling with DMN. You can read the full announcement here and Real-world Decision Modeling with DMN will be available from MK Press in print and Kindle versions. As Richard Soley, who has graciously agreed to write a foreword for us, says:

“A well-defined, well-structured approach to Decision Modeling (using the OMG international DMN standard) gives a repeatable, consistent approach to decision-making and also allows the crucial ‘why?’ question to be answered—how did we come to this point and what do we do next?” said Richard Mark Soley, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO, Object Management Group, Inc. ”The key to accountability, repeatability, consistency and even agility is a well-defined approach to business decisions, and the standard and this book gets you there.”

Our aim is to provide a comprehensive book with both a complete explanation of decision modeling as an approach/technique and the DMN standard itself. Plus some solid advice on the business benefits of using it as well as lots and lots of examples and best practices developed on real projects. Jan and I have been using decision modeling for years on all sorts of projects and we want to distill that experience to a book that will help new decision modelers get up to speed quickly while still helping those with more experience with crucial patterns and advice.

The two companies have used decision modeling on many projects and between us we have probably taught over 1,000 people decision modeling and DMN. We have worked with business analysts, process analysts, developers, data scientists and subject matter experts – all of whom have found DMN an accessible yet precise way to describe business decisions. Decision modeling lets you capture, communicate and facilitate agile improvement in even the most complex of business decisions. It’s been critical for our clients’ compliance efforts and for staying up to date with regulations. We are going to bring this breadth of perspective and deep experience to the book so companies and individuals can successfully adopt decision modeling.

I wish I could tell you the book was ready but it’s not – Jan and I are working hard on it and have a tremendous amount of great material already done but we really want to produce a pretty definitive guide – not just to DMN but to decision modeling using DMN.  As we work on finishing it, Jan and I will be posting about the book and the thoughts about decision modeling that writing it has provoked as well as asking questions to make sure we cover everything we need to and more. Watch this blog, Jan’s blog and the various LinkedIn groups we belong to for more updates. I hope you’ll engage with us and that you won’t find the wait too arduous.

Available now! Real-World Decision Modeling with DMN