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This blog has talked a lot about ‘the 80%’ without really getting into the nuts and bolts of architectural practice, but it is time to look at a deep drive into one area. Being the person that I am, that deep dive is not going to be technology specific, but rather look at the business implications of enterprise architecture to deliver value through agility in a slow market.
Once there was a very brilliant composer who was charged with constructing the greatest masterpiece ever created. This composer was renowned for his ability to create new things, things of beauty, things of value, things that everyone loved and admired. But the problem for the composer, was that he could not do it all. The composer was a classically trained pianist and was a joy to behold on the keys, but he could not play strings. He could not play woodwinds. He certainly was no percussionist. In fact, he often said that he didn’t even understand percussionists. They were a strange archaic group of people who spoke with strange language and often seemed to be doing their own thing to justify their place in the orchestra. Luckily for the composer, he had learnt the value of conductors long ago. (more…)
The tribal instinct runs deep in us all. Anthropologically speaking, it is a core part of our very being designed as a key survival mechanism within the human psyche. It makes us do and say all kinds of strange things that we take for granted on a daily basis. But just what is the point? What is the impact? And why do we care?
I attended a rather excellent presentation yesterday on what makes a good architect. The particular person in question delivering the presentation is known to me, and we have long been on the same wavelength, but I thought it relevant enough to post about it. There has been a convergence of ideas and thoughts and issues lately in this space and I yesterday was another of those moments.
What is it to know something? What does it mean to be genuinely convinced that we have the answer? How did we get the answer? (more…)
It’s easy to talk the talk, but much harder to walk the walk. What does it mean to behave ethically, what is a conflict of interest, how does governance tie all this together, how does governance fail to prevent unethical practice?
ICT strategy is a strange beast. Often driven from both ends and squeezed in the middle. Still the servant of the greater Business strategy, it is often expected to deliver on technology goals from the ICT side of the business. Often as an external consultant, the idea of coming in to deliver an ICT strategy, can be viewed as part of the greater ‘Woods for the Trees‘ role of external consultants, and the consultant can find themselves as a pawn of a particular side of the organisation, often used to deliver a political backhander to one of the opposing sides. This is often not a problem, unless you don’t expect it. (more…)
Whilst the title of this post may appear to be a shameless grab for google traffic, it is in fact not the case at all. Promise. Many people in life spend their time looking for the 100% guaranteed solution to particular problems, this manifests itself in many ways with many different types of behaviour. In this post, we will look at one of them. (more…)
Organisations are all about people, process and culture. That is a recurring theme that you will read here many times. The problem with these three traits, is that they are all imperfect. The longer that any of these three facets of an organisation remain in place, the more entrenched, immovable, and invisible they become. (more…)
The Ponzi scheme was named after the world’s first (probably not) great fraudster, Charles Ponzi, and his ‘Mail Reply Coupon’ fraud from the 1920s. An incredible scheme that provides the opportunity for new investors’ money to be used to pay the dividends for the early investors, thus perpetuating the myth of exponential growth. The trick to winning with a Ponzi scheme is to be the one who starts it, but of course that is illegal. Many things in this world that look too good to be true, are often Ponzi schemes. (more…)
Business Engagement and Transformation 