Enterprise Architecture (EA) has evolved to become a prominent presence in today’s information systems and technology landscape. The EA discipline is rich in frameworks, methodologies, and the like. However, the question of ‘value’ for business ;professionals remains largely unanswered – that is, how best can Enterprise Architecture and Enterprise Architects deliver value to the enterprise?
Your business is solving the wrong problems. The nuclear triad of People, Process and Technology has been foundational to solving business problems for decades. Entire frameworks and methodologies have grown up around the simple concept that getting each of these three areas correct and functioning in concert will ensure smooth business operations and cross-enterprise alignment. Billions of dollars have been spent on people in the management consulting industry who have ‘mastered’ the art of alignment and offered definitive solutions to the biggest, wickedest business challenges out there. And yet… our businesses continue to encounter the same well-known and seemingly well-solved problems, spending massive sums to fix them. How can this be? It is said that modern business is one part innovation and one part marketing. Innovation is often mistakenly equated with technology and marketing with ‘digital’. Success in business therefore becomes a chase for digital capabilities and the latest technology to enable them. And yet… the latest technology continues to give us problems, create headaches and doesn’t always give our businesses the edge they need to compete, despite costing us huge amounts of money. How can this be? The reality, of course, is that businesses are chasing the wrong buzzwords, buying the wrong solutions, solving the wrong problems. The People Problem tackles this topic from the perspective of Enterprise Architecture. For newcomers and open-minded old-timers who practice EA, architecting the enterprise is all about asking the fundamental question ‘what business problem are we trying to solve?’ When practitioners pay close attention, they’ll recognize that business problems are infrequently solved by a new tool. That is, Technology isn’t the answer to the problem. They’ll also notice that the most efficient process in the world, made popular by the flashiest buzzwords in the industry, is insufficient to answer the fundamental question. In other words, Process is not the answer to the problem. Human beings are at the root and core of our businesses. They define the processes and operate the technology. Only by recognizing that solving business problems requires solving problems with (and caused by) people will we get close to the right solutions. The People Problem aims to help new entrants to the field of enterprise architecture (and anyone interested in solving difficult business problems) navigate in an era of particularly rapid business and technological change. Based on over 17 years of experience consulting with companies large and small, Fortune 500 to local startups, The People Problem is a collection of accumulated knowledge presented in easily digestible vignettes.
Sherry Turkle investigates how a flight from conversation undermines our relationships, creativity, and productivity—and why reclaiming face-to-face conversation can help us regain lost ground. We live in a technological universe in which we are always communicating. And yet we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection. Preeminent author and researcher Sherry Turkle has been studying digital culture for over thirty years. Long an enthusiast for its possibilities, here she investigates a troubling consequence: at work, at home, in politics, and in love, we find ways around conversation, tempted by the possibilities of a text or an email in which we don’t have to look, listen, or reveal ourselves. We develop a taste for what mere connection offers. The dinner table falls silent as children compete with phones for their parents’ attention. Friends learn strategies to keep conversations going when only a few people are looking up from their phones. At work, we retreat to our screens although it is conversation at the water cooler that increases not only productivity but commitment to work. Online, we only want to share opinions that our followers will agree with – a politics that shies away from the real conflicts and solutions of the public square. The case for conversation begins with the necessary conversations of solitude and self-reflection. They are endangered: these days, always connected, we see loneliness as a problem that technology should solve. Afraid of being alone, we rely on other people to give us a sense of ourselves, and our capacity for empathy and relationship suffers. We see the costs of the flight from conversation everywhere: conversation is the cornerstone for democracy and in business it is good for the bottom line. In the private sphere, it builds empathy, friendship, love, learning, and productivity. But there is good news: we are resilient. Conversation cures. Based on five years of research and interviews in homes, schools, and the workplace, Turkle argues that we have come to a better understanding of where our technology can and cannot take us and that the time is right to reclaim conversation. The most human—and humanizing—thing that we do. The virtues of person-to-person conversation are timeless, and our most basic technology, talk, responds to our modern challenges. We have everything we need to start, we have each other.
The objective of the book is to provide practical guidelines to an Architect/consultant who is the part of the Enterprise Architecture Definition Team for Government Transformation initiatives. The consultant need to follow the steps described in the book and adopt them fairly to achieve the EA enablement of Government. It emphasis on the interpersonal skills and techniques for organizing and directing the EA definition, buy-in from management commitment, leading the transition from planning to implementation. It also showcases the steps to be followed for performing the Government Reference Enterprise Architecture. This book defines the methodology to be adopted for EA Reference Architecture for various domains and also provides the value through the practical advice on how to make the Governments to achieve EA adoption and establish a connected Government. We documented our own methodology without excluding other methodological possibilities. This book helps any Enterprise Architecture Planning Team to shorten the time of planning and execution, since most of the time is utilized in agreeing the common approach and work towards the goal. This book demonstrates practical views of an enterprise architect in improving the success rate of EA across the Governments. There is no hard and fast rule that Governments should adopt to one particular framework or standard or approach. They can choose to adopt any industry specific framework, however it can be customised as per the needs of the Government. The book takes a holistic view of the Government Enterprise Architecture, while also giving specific guidelines on how to establish and roll out future-state Government Enterprise Architecture based on the methodology and approach documented in this book. The book aims to: • Demonstrate importance of enterprise architecture in elevating the effectiveness of Government transformation programmes • Disseminate current advancements and thought leadership in the area of government enterprise architecture in the context of Connected Government • Provide initiatives with evidence-based, credible, field tested and practical guidance in crafting their respective architectures (Business, Application, Data, Technology etc) • Showcase innovative use of Enterprise Architecture in enhancing Government transformation initiatives
The age of transformation is upon us. And for corporate IT departments, supporting and sustaining enterprise architecture requires a fundamentally new approach. Transformative Enterprise Architecture has the solution. It presents a new methodology that boldly redefines the characteristics and competencies that every large-scale IT team must develop to function successfully.
Business Process Management (BPM) has become one of the most widely used approaches for the design of modern organizational and information systems. The conscious treatment of business processes as significant corporate assets has facilitated substantial improvements in organizational performance but is also used to ensure the conformance of corporate activities. This Handbook presents in two volumes the contemporary body of knowledge as articulated by the world’ s leading BPM thought leaders. This first volume focuses on arriving at a sound definition of BPM approaches and examines BPM methods and process-aware information systems. As such, it provides guidance for the integration of BPM into corporate methodologies and information systems. Each chapter has been contributed by leading international experts. Selected case studies complement their views and lead to a summary of BPM expertise that is unique in its coverage of the most critical success factors of BPM. The second edition of this handbook has been significantly revised and extended. Each chapter has been updated to reflect the most current developments. This includes in particular new technologies such as in-memory data and process management, social media and networks. A further focus of this revised and extended edition is on the actual deployment of the proposed theoretical concepts. This volume includes a number of entire new chapters from some of the world’s leading experts in the domain of BPM.
