From IPAPI

The common characteristic of a people process is the amount (or significance) of the activities in the process performed by (you guessed it!) – people.

IPAPI Definition

People Process - A People Process is a process having some number of significant activities within it that are performed by people.

Overview

People process refers to the work people do, the work that is not completely automated. It’s very easy to identify these processes as we can see people doing the activities in them every day. How do we know a people process exists? We see people doing work. Whenever and wherever we see people at work, we are directly observing some of the activity within a people process.

People processes have a very interesting dynamic that is not found in non-people processes. What is that dynamic? PEOPLE!

The impact of people is one of the least understood aspects of process, often being missing altogether or suffering from an incompatible translation (as seen in many technology initiatives). The reason is simple. Variation in people: the way we observe, think, reach decisions, take an action, react to something... it all combines to create infinite variation. Add into the mix the influence that our current context has on us (people) and it should be easy to see that variation is just part of the people process landscape.

This does bring to light a very important point. People processes must be designed, modeled, improved, managed, measured and controlled differently from non-people processes.

“People Process” Perspectives

Processes involving people can be defined and managed from different perspectives. The traditional approach to defining a people process is to identify a rational and detailed model of the “process.” This is closely related to an analysis technique called “AS IS Process Modeling” and is the prevalent perspective used when working with people processes though it fails to address the characteristics of people.

The other perspective, the one that directly supports the characteristics of people process, involves defining process from a higher level activities perspective – what is commonly called the “Current State Process Model.”

The other key difference in this perspective is the emphasis on how the process affects the people doing the work and the ability to help them achieve the intended outcome of the process. This perspective focuses more on how things really get done - as compared to creating a complex rational process model of how the process would work in a controlled environment like that of an automated process.