A Short History of Southbeach Notation

Origin and conception

Southbeach Notation was pioneered by Howard Smith and Mark Burnett. The first application of the notation, the Southbeach Modeller, is a product of Southbeach Solutions Ltd. Though the specification and its reference implementation are distinct, the creators encourage diverse implementations.

Inspiration from TRIZ

Southbeach's foundation lies in TRIZ, the Russian 'Theory of Inventive Problem Solving', initiated by innovator Genrich Altshuler. In 2003, while delving into Business Process Management (BPM) and large-scale change projects, Smith and Burnett recognized TRIZ's potential for systematic innovation. They named their specific application P-TRIZ (Process TRIZ). As they couldn't find a standard representation to share P-TRIZ, they chose to develop a consolidated approach rooted in best practice.

Smith and Burnett understood the limitations of traditional diagrams, which often depicted static information without evaluative insights. They proposed enhancing these with TRIZ semantics, making them dynamic and highlighting areas needing refinement.

Evolution to active models

The duo saw the potential of embedding TRIZ as both a standalone notation and a meta notation, coining the term 'innovation mark-up' for the latter. They believed that a dynamic model could emerge by integrating TRIZ semantics with standard drawing tools, especially when paired with a rules engine. This would enable the diagram to not only represent but also evaluate situations, leading to actionable insights.

Vision and challenges

Creating Southbeach required the harmonization of varying TRIZ diagramming practices. Smith and Burnett also aimed to develop software tools versatile enough to interpret multiple analytical methods, questioning if they could be unified under TRIZ's umbrella. They drew inspiration from experience with BPMN, a standard in Business Process Management that revolutionized BPM practices. They believed a similar model could amplify the adoption of TRIZ.

Recognizing the importance of standards, Smith and Burnett emphasized clear semantics, which would inspire confidence in businesses to invest in these innovative tools.

Publication and outreach

BPTrends.info, a leading portal for BPM practitioners, amplified the TRIZ message. They released a series of articles introducing P-TRIZ in 2006. The Southbeach Notation specifications were published by BPTrends in 2008 and refined in 2011.

• Southbeach Notation 0.9
• Southbeach Notation 0.8
• Southbeach TRIZ at TFC2018

The early ideas for Southbeach Notation were drawn in the sand on South Beach, Miami, Florida, June 2005. The name was memorable and seemed to stick.

P-TRIZ is now Southbeach

Initially dubbed P-TRIZ, this concept eventually evolved into the widely recognized Southbeach Notation. Smith's series of articles in 2006 for BPTrends introduced TRIZ to the BPM community, culminating in the public launch of Southbeach Modeller.

• 1 Introducing P-TRIZ
• 2 P-TRIZ Formulation
• 3 P-TRIZ in the History of Business Process
• 4 Five Whys on Steroids
• 5 Thinking Visually in P-TRIZ and Six Sigma
• 6 Beyond SWOT and Towards Change
• 7 The Trouble with People
• 8 TRIZ and the Theories of Clayton Christensen
• 9 Oliver's Garage
• 10 P-TRIZ now has Software Support
  

Conference presentations

The PDF slide presentations below were showcased at industry conferences. They articulate a vision for the evolution of Southbeach Notation and the innovation management tools inspired by these concepts.

• TRIZ for CIOs, at the Leading Edge Forum, London 2005
• Improve Everything Always, Presentation at Innovation Europe, 2005
• Process Invention, Presentation at Shared Insights, Boston, 2006
• Business Process Management & Innovation, Presentation, London 2006
• A Marriage of Business Process Management and Innovation, Keynote at BPM 2008
• Improve Everything Always, Presentation at the GE Whitney Symposium, 2009