Antipatterns: A Tool for Continuous Improvement

Abstract

Process design patterns are fragments of business processes, used as a solution to commonly encountered problems. A process antipattern is a special form of pattern that is ineffective or has negative consequences but may also be routinely followed. The objective in studying process antipatterns is to identify suboptimal performance, and replace it with better practices. This paper describes some antipatterns in the implementation of digital oilfield projects, refactored solutions that enable recovery from those antipatterns, and the root causes that create them. It concludes with a description of how continuous improvement enabled by antipatterns differs from more traditional approaches to project lessons learned, and why they represent a better way to capture and reuse experience based learning.