Each individual workflow is a structure of commitments that constitutes a transaction between two constituencies-- a customer and a performer -- to accomplish a purpose. This purpose will often change and be re-articulated as the two parties work together, develop new insights/learning, and become clearer about what is possible and what is needed.

The structure of commitments of any process within a company can be observed and designed as a collection of interconnected workflows. I called these structures commitment processes to distinguish them from more traditional interpretations of business processes as flows of information, materials and tasks. A commitment process is a network of individual workflows configured to fulfill one of the recurrent commitments or ongoing objectives of an enterprise, such as developing and marketing new offers, delivering offers to customers, or conducting other general operations of the business.