Workshop on Possible Futures of Business Process Management

Scope and Objectives
Business Process Management (BPM) has matured significantly over the last two decades, evolving from workflow automation to strategic enterprise transformation. Yet, the discipline stands at a crossroads. Emerging technologies such as generative AI, process autonomization, blockchain, and advanced process mining are reshaping what business processes will be able to do—and how they need to be designed, framed and managed. Moreover, shifting societal and environmental priorities are calling for responsible BPM frameworks that account for sustainability, ethics, and resilience.

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This very first edition of the BPMFutures workshop aims to bring together researchers and practitioners to jointly explore possible, plausible, probable, and even desired futures of BPM. In a Dagstuhl-like environment of impuls presentations, debate and consolidations plus a number of accepted papers, we will critically assess current trajectories and start developing futures literacy in our discipline to imagine and conceptualize futures of BPM. This includes both technological advancements and organizational or societal demand shifts that may redefine the purpose, methods, goals, and ultimately impact of BPM.
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To equip the BPM discipline to make the best use of the future, we must broaden our theoretical toolkit, particularly by incorporating lenses that support speculative design and prospective theorizing. While BPM has successfully applied deductive approaches (e.g., lifecycle models, maturity frameworks) and inductive methods (e.g., process mining), it now needs to engage more deeply with abductive reasoning. Abduction enables researchers to develop plausible explanations and innovative ideas in situations of uncertainty, making it especially valuable for future-focused BPM research and design.

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Topics of Interest
We invite submissions that explore, envision, or critique emerging developments in BPM, including but not limited to:
• Speculative design and foresight approaches in BPM
• The role of AI (including GenAI) in shaping future BPM practices
• Hyper-personalization and process autonomization
• Ethics, fairness, and sustainability in future process design
• The impact of socio-technical systems and human-centered BPM
• BPM and organizational resilience in the face of uncertainty
• Visions for post-automation or human-out-of-the-loop process systems
• Future governance and regulation of BPM technology
• Critical perspectives on the limitations of current BPM paradigms

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We particularly welcome interdisciplinary contributions that combine BPM with insights from fields such as philosophy of technology, design studies, information systems, or futures studies.

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Future Pitches and Submission Guidelines
We invite authors to submit Future Pitches (max. 4 pages, including references):
Future Pitches are short papers that are intended to spark discussion, question assumptions, or introduce early ideas with disruptive potential on new BPM futures.

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All submissions must follow the Springer LNBIP formatting guidelines. Accepted papers will be published in post-workshop proceedings in the Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing (LNBIP) series. Submission will be handled through EasyChair. The link will be shared shortly.

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Program Format
The workshop will combine a Dagstuhl experience with a session covering accepted papers featuring:
• Presentations of accepted Future Pitches
• Invited, stimulating impuls presentations
• Discussant-led reactions and feedback sessions
• A future-mapping panel where all participants co-create speculative scenarios for BPM in 2035 and beyond
This structure is intended to maximize dialogue and support the development of a research agenda around the future of BPM.

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Important Dates
• Paper Submission Deadline: June 3, 2026
• Notification of Acceptance: July 15, 2026
• Camera-Ready Papers Due: July 29, 2026
• Workshop Date: September 28, 2026

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Organizing Committee
• Bastian Wurm, LMU Munich School of Management
• Luise Pufahl, Technical University of Munich
• Michael Rosemann, Queensland University of Technology