Mike The Architect

Gartner EA Conference Summary in Top Influential Tweets

2013-06-06T18:29:21-04:00

I usually don’t post recaps of events in their tweets but since I was unable to do full coverage of the event I have picked out what I thought to be the most influential tweets. Lots of good nuggets from the Gartner analysts along with commentary from myself and other EA’s at the event.

Day One

· Mike Walker ‏(@mikejwalker) - Good advice from Betsey Burton: Time box your EA activities. Ex. Allstate Chief Arch 16 wks. To keep atten. of the biz #entarch #GartnerEA

· Mike Walker ‏(@mikejwalker) - Betsy Burton: business capability should be named <verb> <noun>. Do you agree? Not sure I do, mixing concerns. #entarch #bizarch #GartnerEA

· Mike Walker ‏(@mikejwalker) - Great overview on Business Capabilities by Betsy Burton. Here's a useful BCM I use. #entarch #bizarch #gartnerea http://mikejwalker.typepad.com/.a/6a011279700eb728a4016306b433f8970d-pi …

· Pete G. ‏(@pgrivas) - Beyond a level 0/1 diagram, #ArchiMate seems to me like a great tool to continue on with Business Capability Modeling. Thoughts? #GartnerEA

· Olivier Laquinte ‏(@OLaquinte) - A process model describes how the business operates, while a business capability model describes what the business does #gartnerEA

· Mike Walker ‏(@mikejwalker) - Connecting Strategy to Execution Enablers. More than business capabilities. #entarch #bizarch #gartnerea http://mikejwalker.typepad.com/.a/6a011279700eb728a4017c31f84119970b-pi …

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) - Business capabilities modeling bridges the gap between business strategy and IT execution. #GartnerEA

· Mike Walker ‏(@mikejwalker) - Extending #GartnerEA thinking: Connecting Strategy to Execution is more than business capabilities. #entarch #bizarch http://mikejwalker.typepad.com/.a/6a011279700eb728a4017c33f8323e970b-pi …

· Voytek Janisz ‏(@VoytekTheEA) -Business Capability modeling is a great way to bridge communication gap between business and IT #GartnerEA #entarch

· Homero Padilla Cano ‏(@zerkhufu) - “nobody cares about your work, they care about your impact in creating/pushing business outcomes” @ #GartnerEA

· Olivier Laquinte ‏(@OLaquinte) - @brian_burke - since #EA are influencers, should they be on projects steering committees to ensure alignment? #gartnerEA

· Olivier Laquinte ‏(@OLaquinte) - Effectiveness + Efficiency = #EA Impact #gartnerEA

· Olivier Laquinte ‏(@OLaquinte) - Measuring #EA : actions as a result of influence is an impact #gartnerEA

· Fred (‏@froidianslip) - Change is a team sport. #GartnerEA

· Fred (‏@froidianslip) - Brian Burke told me no one cares about me, they only care about what I've done for them lately. #GartnerEA #welcometothebusiness

· Duncan Mundell ‏(@dcmundell) - It's the EA's responsibility to negotiate non-functional requirements by helping the business balance cost, risk and capabilities #GartnerEA

· Voytek Janisz ‏(@VoytekTheEA) - Use "Mickey Mouse" diagrams when communicating architecture to business. Leave UML, BPMN, ArchiMate behind. #entarch #GartnerEA

· Voytek Janisz ‏(@VoytekTheEA) - Panel discussion: "Architecture is about managing change and about communication" #entarch #GartnerEA

· Rebecca Newland ‏(@NewlandRebecca) - Five Things I Learned At The #Gartner Enterprise Architecture Summit #GartnerEA http://buff.ly/17YtlAn

· Derek E. Weeks ‏(@weekstweets) - Gartner's @MarkRaskino "watch out for new roles of ChiefDataOfficer and ChiefDigitalOfficer at your corp this year". #gartnerea #opentext

· Fred (‏@froidianslip) - The new CIO... Chief Innovation Officer. But the role is about much more than technology. #GartnerEA

· Fred (‏@froidianslip) - Entrepreneurial is not a word that sits well with most CIOs. #GartnerEA

· Derek E. Weeks ‏(@weekstweets) -Who is managing your unstructured information? #gartnerea #opentext pic.twitter.com/tqKAvhuEnd

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) -The way to succeed in social media: purpose, purpose, purpose. #GartnerEA #socialmedia

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) - 90% of organizations social collaboration efforts fail. #GartnerEA

· Steve Armstrong (‏@sakarmstrong) - Enterprise architecture is something we do, not something we deliver. #gartnerea

· Homero Padilla Cano ‏(@zerkhufu) - “sharing information leads to business innovation and new ways to use information” @ #GartnerEA

· David Middleton (‏@_dmiddleton) - Social collaboration isn't disruptive b/c of the technology but b/c of how it is leveraged and utilized to affect change. #GartnerEA

· Fred (‏@froidianslip) - Great talk on CEO concerns, but I keep thinking, "Bring me the holy hand grenade. #GartnerEA #projectingmontypython

· Fred (‏@froidianslip) - The gap between the business and IT is one of understanding and ultimately a language gap between people. #GartnerEA

· Fred (‏@froidianslip) - You should never trust a survey people, really. #GartnerEA #CEOconcerns

· Derek E. Weeks ‏(@weekstweets) - @MarkRaskino Recession is still problem but tech is not slowing...expect more tech demand as growth strategies unfold #gartnerea #opentext

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) - Build systems to empower people. #GartnerEA #socialmedia

· Pete G. ‏(@pgrivas) - @mikejwalker From your tweets we must be at the same session at #GartnerEA. I love your site BTW - great information.

· Mike Walker ‏(@mikejwalker) - #GartnerEA is echoing my thoughts of #BizArch It's NOT creating strategy but rationalizing into execution #entarch http://architectureandgovernance.com/content/walker-talks-business-architecture-and-best-practices-using-it …

· David Middleton (‏@_dmiddleton) - By 2020, alternatives to formal higher education will make education more engaging, broadly accessible and broadly recognized. #GartnerEA

· Mike Walker ‏(@mikejwalker) - Betsy Burton: No.1 #bizarch mistake is to separate it from #EntArch They are one in the same. <-Agreed! #GartnerEA

· Michael McNamara ‏(@mfMcNamara) - Develop a crisis management playbook #GartnerEA

· Pete G. ‏(@pgrivas) - Worst practice in #EnterpriseArchitecture is starting out with current state #GartnerEA

· Pete G. ‏(@pgrivas) - #EnterpriseArchitecture is going to be a discipline of Strategic Planning by 2020 - #GartnerEA

· Homero Padilla Cano ‏(@zerkhufu) - increase sales is not strategy #GartnerEA

· Matt Edwards ‏(@mwedward) - "Only 10% of enterprises successfully execute their strategies - Michael Hammer." #gartnerea

· Matt Edwards ‏(@mwedward) - The key to successful business architecture is family counseling. Get past the tears and differences, and work together. #gartnerea

· Ryan Pehrson ‏(@rpehrson) - #GartnerEA Betsy Burton. "60% of EA is 'Family Counseling'"

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) - Want to add value as an EA? 1. deliver real outcomes, 2. deliver signature ready recommendations. #GartnerEA

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) - There are no IT projects. There are only business projects. #GartnerEA

· Mike Walker ‏(@mikejwalker) - #GartnerEA External disruptions effect EA. <- Agreed posted in '09: EA is Different Based On Where You Live #entarch http://www.mikethearchitect.com/2009/05/is-architecture-different-based-on-where-you-live.html …

· Voytek Janisz ‏(@VoytekTheEA) - When strategy is not articulated, it is the business outcomes that can help frame it up. #entarch #GartnerEA

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) - Even if your strategy isn't explicitly documented you can derive it from what you are currently doing. #GartnerEA

· Mike Walker ‏(@mikejwalker) - #GartnerEA Keynote: Let industry frameworks guide not prescribe <-Agree #entarch

· Mike Walker ‏(@mikejwalker) - #GartnerEA Keynote: Frameworks are bad, let us introduce a new framework and method #entarch

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) - Categorize EA business driven outcomes as: run, grow or transform. #GartnerEA

· Fred (‏@froidianslip) - EA goes agile and pragmatic according to Brian Burke. #GartnerEA

· Matt Edwards ‏(@mwedward) - Business objectives should be timeboxed (as should everything)... #gartnerea

· Voytek Janisz ‏(@VoytekTheEA) - Business outcome driven EA is the next wave after the framework-driven EA #GartnerEA #entarch

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) - EA is entering third phase. First was framework, followed by process and moving towards business outcome driven EA. #GartnerEA

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) - By 2015 40% of global 1000 companies will use gamification as a strategy. #GartnerEA

· Mike Walker ‏(@mikejwalker) - BYOD will double the amount of malware in the enterprise through 2014 #GartnerEA #entarch

· Duncan Mundell ‏(@dcmundell) - Successful #enterprisearchitecture is all about outcomes and not just processes and standards alone. #gartnerea

· Mike Walker ‏(@mikejwalker) - By 2015 #bigdata demand will reach 1 million jobs but only 1/3 will be filled #GartnerEA #entarch

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) - By 2015 big data will reach 1 million jobs in global 1000 but only 1/3 will be filled. #GartnerEA

· Matt Durham ‏(@matthewdurham) - Enterprise architects influence $1.1 trillion in enterprise IT spend according to #Gartner #GartnerEA. My influence is somewhat smaller.

Day Two

· Fred (‏@froidianslip) - BYOD = Bring Your Own Data #GartnerEA

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) - Prediction: we will use 4 - 6 devices and share data via the cloud. #GartnerEA #hopenot

· Fred (‏@froidianslip) - BYO-let-my-company-and-I-decide-what-is-best-for-both-of-us #GartnerEA

· Fred (‏@froidianslip) - 13% NEVER use company supplied devices for personal communications. Is that on or off the record? #GartnerEA #neverisaverystrongword

· Brian Damiani ‏(@bwdamiani) - Interesting: The majority of speakers are British. All very good but an indicator that the US is still lagging in EA adoption? #GartnerEA

· Vijay Nuthulapaty ‏(@VNatGartnerEA) - @markmcgregor Coming to #GartnerEA made me realize that my team is not alone in challenges with EA. Definitely therapeutic.

· Fred (‏@froidianslip) - Found my new favorite phrase in the disruption session: behavioral economics. Can I now have a behavioral recession? #GartnerEA

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) - #5 disruption: brain science and neurobusiness. #GartnerEA

· Vijay Nuthulapaty ‏(@VNatGartnerEA) - @mikejwalker Amen brother. And not just detailed designs, issue resolution as well. #gartnerea

· Mike Walker ‏(@mikejwalker) - Scott Bittler - “Just because you can do something [detail design] as an EA doesn’t mean you should” #GartnerEA #EntArch

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) - #3 disruption to business: robotics and human augmentation. #GartnerEA

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) - #2 disruption to business: human system interaction. #GartnerEA

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) - #1 disruption to business: the internet of things. #GartnerEA

· Vijay Nuthulapaty ‏(@VNatGartnerEA) - Met a lot of interesting architects at #gartnerea . By my guesstimate only 50% are in an EA role currently.

· Voytek Janisz ‏(@VoytekTheEA) - EA roadmaps are visualization of strategy. Use them to articulate known strategy or to help elicit it from business. #GartnerEA #entarch

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) - Favor enablement not control in your EA program. #GartnerEA

· Duncan Mundell ‏(@dcmundell) - Successful enterprise architecture is about doing the basics right. Focus on the business and communicate. #GartnerEA

· Mike Walker ‏(@mikejwalker) - Agree with Keith Meador -> At the end of the day, the last mile is all that matters. Make your efforts signature ready #EntArch #GartnerEA

· Olivier Laquinte (‏@OLaquinte) - K.Meador, #starbucks |The job of an #EA is not to get the right answer, it's to get the best one in a collaborative way #gartnerEA

· Fred (‏@froidianslip) - Keith Meador has captured the essence of EA. The fact he works for @Starbucks and is also from Seattle introduces no bias. #GartnerEA

· Mike Walker ‏(@mikejwalker) - Starbucks preso started w/ a coffee tasting & biz overview. Kudos to Keith on EA leadership and focus. #GartnerEA #EntArch

· Fred (‏@froidianslip) - Coffee is a connection at Starbucks. EA is about connections as well. Well played coffee giant. #GartnerEA

· Brian Oberman ‏(@brianoberman) - Starbucks is giving out free coffee at their presentation. #GartnerEA @Starbucks #score pic.twitter.com/LyfXnDY612

· Fred (‏@froidianslip) - On an innovation slide: Design serendipitous workspaces. <- Acceptance is a big cultural indicator. Trust me, I know. #GartnerEA

· Wes DeVault ‏(@wvipersg) - Use caution when trying to roll up risk Indicators to one indicator score. You may end up missing things you will need. #gartnerEA

· Michael McNamara ‏(@mfMcNamara) - WIIFT - What's in it for them? "... thats the bacon!" Cathleen Blanton #GartnerEA

· Fred (‏@froidianslip) - I've fallen in love with the six roles of technology innovation. Someone please tell my wife I'm sorry. #GartnerEA

· Brian Damiani ‏(@bwdamiani) - Enterprise Architecture should be done with others, not to them. From Cathleen Blanton's Roadmap presentation. #GartnerEA

· Pete G. ‏(@pgrivas) - "Roadmapping uses a graphical approach to visualize strategy". Key phrase: visualize strategy #GartnerEA

· Vijay Nuthulapaty ‏(@VNatGartnerEA) - Gartner's message around business value driven EA is consistent, not hearing the same from the crowd though. Thoughts? #GartnerEA

Open Group Announces Risk Analysts Certification

2013-06-06T16:00:36-04:00

What I find in my Enterprise Architecture travels as both a practitioner and advisor is that risk management is an essential capability of Enterprise Architecture. I don’t see the EA function as a replacement of the corporate risk management function but extending, enhancing and supporting it.

As the arbiters of the overall technology portfolio that influences or even makes decisions on technology, architectures and ultimately the how investments are made, it becomes increasingly obvious to support this aspect. Whether you are a high technology company or a bank there is some level of risk identification, mitigation and management that occurs.

Since I believe in the risk management capability within EA, I thought that this certification might be useful to you as well. The Open Group is announcing a new certification program for risk analysts at the EA July conference in Philadelphia. If you have downloaded any of the Open Group risk and IT security management publications previously, you might already have a notification of this.

In conjunction with the program launch, there are several risk analysis learning opportunities that you should be aware of:

The Value of Certification for Risk Analysts on June 20, 2013 @ 11.00 EDT
Risk and IT Security: Developing and Communicating the InfoSec Value Proposition to Senior Management on June 25, 2013 @ 11.00 EDT
At our Philadelphia conference, there will be a one-day risk analysis symposium on July 17, 2013
CXOWARE will be delivering a two-day training course on FAIR-based risk analysis. This training is an ideal way for risk analysts to prepare for the Open Group certification exam, which will be available starting in early September.

Mike Walker Publishing on CIO.com and HP Discover Performance Blogs

2013-05-30T16:26:42-04:00

Some of you may of noticed from a few of my tweets recently that my posts were coming from a few different sources. This wasn’t a mistake or a “fake” Mike Walker running around but a deliberate approach to my publishing.

After a lot of thought and consideration I decided that I have been covering a broad range of topics on www.MikeTheArchitect.com with topics ranging from the discipline of Enterprise Architecture, executive level content and even some Solution Architecture. Some of which is good and in alignment with the core EA topics of www.MikeTheArchitect.com but others a bit broader and loose in alignment. This is combined with my broad range of interests and activities as a strategic advisor that exposes me to a wide range of experiences and insights that I like to share with all of you.

To make my content a bit more digestible and tailored to you I want publish to the appropriate sites so you get what you need. As a result I will be publishing on these three sites:

Mike The Architect
(http://www.MikeTheArchitect.com)

I will continue publishing to “Mike The Architect” with Enterprise Architecture proven practices, guidance, news and insights.

CIO.com Enterprise Forum (http://www.enterprisecioforum.com/en/blogs/mikejwalker)

I plan on publishing content suited for CxO’s, executives and other business leaders here.

HP Performance Discover Blog(http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1414875)

This will be a resource for IT leaders looking for strategic insights and best practices to define, measure and achieve better performance.

Enjoy!

A Different Open Group Enterprise Architecture Conference in 2013

2013-05-29T20:03:00-04:00

This year the Open Group is doing something very different with their conference from previous years, they are verticalizing. Smart move. With all the talk about business centric Enterprise Architecture this is a smart direction on the Open Group’s part. This get’s us one step past just “talking about the business” generally without any application but to the heart of each set of concerns that businesses have.

The conference will be held in Philadelphia on July 15-17, 2013 with Member Meetings set post conference on July 18, 2013. If this conference of interest the early bird registration ends May 31, 2013. To register go here. In line with the conference The Open Group is also giving delegates at our conference in Philadelphia the opportunity to combine the three day conference with some additional training events on Thursday 18 July and Friday 19 July called Professional Days. Looks to be some good deals from partners on training on the following topic areas:

About the Event

The first two days of the summit will focus on Enterprise Transformation issues concerning three core vertical industry sectors: Finance and Commerce, Government & Defense, and Healthcare. Day three will offer more detailed workshops and tutorials on business, professional development and technically focused topics.

Below are the additional topics areas:

Enterprise Architecture
TOGAF® 9
ArchiMate®
Cloud Computing and Data Architecture
Information Security and Risk Management
Distributed Services Architecture
Disruptive Technologies
Business Architecture
Trusted Technology
Platform 3.0
Future Technology Trends

Recapping the Gartner Enterprise Architecture Summit 2013

2013-05-29T11:40:34-04:00

It has been a few years since I have attended this event but this year I had the great opportunity to go to the Gartner Enterprise Architecture Conference. This year it was held from 20 - 23 May in National Harbor, MD.

Gartner presented its latest research from the past year, recommendations and best practices from their many years of research. This year was a record breaking year for Gartner with an all time high of attendance. With year over year growth, this shows not only the value of this conference but also of Enterprise Architecture. Another point of note is that the majority of the practitioners represent the financial services and healthcare verticals respectively. These two industries continue to show strong support for EA.

Building on several research notes and toolkits, Business Outcome Driven Enterprise Architecture was the theme for this year. The theme builds on the notion that Enterprise Architecture should continue to evolve out of the IT Architecture centric approach (only focusing on technology or applications) and move into a top-down centric approach. I couldn’t agree more.

While this isn't a necessarily a new concept, it was certainly good to see Gartner continue to push this. I believe it’s the right direction for EA as I am sure most of you do too. I talked about this in my keynote at the Open Group Conference in 2011. I like Gartner, talked about what the future of EA may look like. It’s eerily in line with my keynote presentation called, The New World of Enterprise Architecture. Below are the characteristics of that new EA:

There are more descriptions of Enterprise Architecture as a whole but these are the key characteristics of the new world of Enterprise Architecture.

Enterprise Transformation – EA is now and in the future focusing at the enterprise level and emerging out of the project and program level. This is necessary change to get the proper breadth to ensure that solutions are aligned to the business objectives but also maximized for the whole of the company rather than a specific function or business unit.
Innovation for Growth – Enterprise Architects will provide innovation services to the enterprise by distilling key market trends from a business and technology perspective. An example of this is the effect that mobility or cloud computing has on specific business models.
More than Technology – EA is often confused with IT architecture but EA is much more than technology and primarily focused on providing value for the business.
Meaningful Business Partnerships – We use the words align business to IT. For EA’s it’s much more. EA’s must partner with the business. This means we don’t just distill a set of goals and objectives but we work with the business to rationalize, challenge, propose and aid in the business transformation activities.
Corporate Sustainability – EA’s play a key role in ensuring the long term success of the business through the enterprise capabilities and solutions we enable. Companies will start to use EA as an insurance policy once we are able to prove this model in a consistent way.
Drive through Emotional Intelligence – This is a key theme for enterprise architects. It allows EA’s to have the social and emotional intelligence to lead an organization from these key characteristics.

While it’s not completely brand new, it doesn’t have to be as this notion is still maturating. With all the business driven EA industry research, articles and guidance out there it’s tough to calibrate what is working and what isn’t for some time now what Gartner has provided a great deal of evidence behind this continuing shift in Enterprise Architecture.

The evidence of this shift, as Philip Allega points out is that 1.1 trillion dollars of IT spend is influenced by Enterprise Architects. Philip challenged the audience to see how much each of us can continue to affect that pie.

The salient points from the conference includes:

EA Matters – Attendance and customer case studies shows that EA does matter and it is alive and well. It is continuing to evolve and hit rough patches but we are still seeing business value in pursuing.
Think like Your Business – If you think like them, you will get them what they need to be successful. All EA’s and even IT is part of a business ecosystem all dependant on each other with a role. Focusing on the ultimate business outcome will ensure you are providing value back to the the overall business and not talking in business speak just for the sake of it.
EA's Should "Tried and True" Techniques - EA's will continue to use traditional tools such as roadmaps to manage the change with trends like big data
Emerging Markets - With Brazil, Russia, India and China or BRIC make up a total of 29% of the worlds GDP. EA's have a unique position to enable these very complex ecosystems. For more on my views on this check out a post from ‘09 called, “Is Architecture Different Based on Where You Live?”
Risk and Compliance - The world is flat or at least flattening. With this world economics and government policy matters to you.
Disruptive Technology Continues to Surprise Us – With emerging disruptions like Gamification, they continue to challenge and grow the enterprise. The trick now is to understand the concept of disruptive forces and create models to manage it to then harness the innovation. Gartner predicts that by 2015 40% of global 1000 companies will use gamification as a strategy.

2013 Conferences Mike Walker will be Attending

2013-05-09T16:56:34-04:00

For those conference goers out there I wanted to let you all know that I will be at a few US based conferences this year. There may be a few more later in the year but this is what I know for now.

Like many others, I have really enjoyed discussing EA topics, debating the latest trends and frankly, learning from you. Earlier this year I had a great time talking to many of you at the Troux World Conference. That’s the real highlight for me.

If you are attending the event listed below and want to have a meet up please direct message me on Twitter @mikejwalker.

Here are the events I’ll be at for the next few months:

Gartner Enterprise Architecture Summit (22 - 23 May, 2013 | National Harbor, MD)
HP Discover (11-13 June, 2013 | Las Vegas, NV)
Open Group Conference (15 – 18 July, 2013 | Philadelphia, PA)

I will be presenting at the Open Group Conference but not at HP Discover (missed the submission window!) and Gartner.

Again, looking forward to seeing you!

The Business Model Canvas: Know Thy Business

2013-05-09T16:24:35-04:00

As Enterprise Architects we drive to maximize value in our companies. With most EA teams residing within an IT area under a CIO we can find ourselves bogged down by the technology weighing down on decisions. The challenge with that is one of context. Without understanding “Why” we are solving a problem will most certainly inhibit the value in which is achieved.

So the question is, do we really know our business before we make architecture decisions? What tools do we use or don’t use to understand the business model?

I was happy to see Alexander Osterwalder publish on the Harvard Business Review blog a post titled, “A Better Way to Think About Your Business Model”. Certainly take a look at this. His post provides some high-level information on why it’s important to use the model. If you find value in the model as I do, you will want to pick up his book, Business Model Generation. Personally I like the hard copy best given it’s so visual. There is also an iPad app that you can get that works really well too. You can find it in the Apple App Store here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/business-model-toolbox/id431605371?mt=8

As I eluded to above, I have found a lot of value in this tool. It is one that I've been using for quite some time now. It’s a brilliant model that helps you dissect what your business is. The data itself isn’t rocket science. It’s the conversation that it triggers which drives the value. I often apply this in workshop like sessions rather than one off data collecting exercises.

WARNING: While it can allude to, the Business Model Canvas does not tell you why your business has been built in the fashion it has. This is within strategy oriented methods and models.

The business model canvas can really help you to understand your business. What is nice about it is that the questions can be applied at multiple levels. You can apply it at a corporate level or apply it to a business unit.

As an example of this, I applied it to an already established enterprise architecture organization. I used the model to assess the organization on its “health”. Asking those business oriented questions forces us to think as if we were a business unit, and that’s not a bad thing. The results were quite amazing because it got the right level of conversation and thinking going to evolve the overall value proposition.

About the Business Model Canvas

If your not familiar with the Business Model Canvas below is a two minute overview of the Business Model Canvas, a tool for visionaries, game changers, and challengers. The business model canvas — as opposed to the traditional, intricate business plan — helps organizations conduct structured, tangible, and strategic conversations around new businesses or existing ones. Leading global companies like GE, P&G, and Nestlé use the canvas to manage strategy or create new growth engines, while start-ups use it in their search for the right business model. The canvas's main objective is to help companies move beyond product-centric thinking and towards business model thinking.

Find out more at http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com

Mike Walker has Joined Hewlett-Packard

2013-04-17T15:37:51-04:00

Some of you may already know from my LinkedIn profile that I have joined Hewlett-Packard (HP) in the Software Division as an Strategy and Enterprise Architecture Advisor.

As I was evaluating HP I didn’t fully appreciate HP’s status in the world of IT. I suppose I just thought of some of the acquisitions and the printer on my desk. It was fascinating to research this historic company and see where they are today.

Below are a few eye opening stats that changed my view and perceptions:

HP is the only high tech company as a fortune 10 company according to Forbes 2012 Fortune 500 list (with companies like Apple 17th, IBM 19th, Microsoft 37th, and Dell 44th)
#1 server vendor in shipments for 10+ consecutive years
#6th largest software company in the world with (#1 distributed systems management software, #1 automated software quality and #1 enterprise search and discovery)
#1 PC market share, including workstations

Once I did my research and joined I decided to take a stop by the historic HP garage where it all started for Silicon Valley or commonly referred to as the "Birthplace of Silicon Valley".

Back to what I’m doing for HP

As most of you may know, I have served in an advisory capacity for some time so the advisor role is a very familiar role for me. When at Microsoft this was a key component to my role. Likewise at HP, I will be an advisor to HP’s top customers. What is interesting about this role is that it isn’t a consulting (billable) type of engagement and there are no quotas that are measured on sales of products or services. This was done very deliberately so that it drove incentives of the enterprise architects to have a business driven and product neutral conversation with customers. HP saw from some high technology vendors with similar offerings that the enterprise architects became more product / solution architects that used the EA vocabulary.

My role as an Enterprise Architecture and Strategy Advisor is broken up into thirds:

Strategy and Enterprise Architecture Advisor – A wide range of activities happen here. From ad-hoc engagements that last a half day to workshops that last multiple days such as strategic discussions, strategy and architecture review, business capability analysis, architecture design session, enterprise blueprinting review or an EA health check.
Enterprise Architecture Community Development – I will continue with blogging, whitepapers, speaking engagements and increased involvement into standards bodies. I will continue to provide thought leadership into the TOGAF standard along with getting plugged into other areas that are impactful to enterprise architects. You may even see a architect community spring up as well.
Provide the Voice of the Customer Back to HP – A very smart move on HP’s part is this aspect to the role in which brings all the insights from the previous two areas back into the HP machine. This could range from simple process improvement to insights into market trends to product challenges.

Well that’s it on that front. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to comment or send me an email.

EA Practitioners Have Significant Influence on $1.1 Trillion in Enterprise IT Spend

2013-04-11T14:45:53-04:00

Gartner just released a report entitled, "EA Practitioners Have Significant Influence on $1.1 Trillion in Enterprise IT Spend” that strongly links to their Business Outcome Driven Enterprise Architecture. This is interesting article because it’s shows the latest thinking from real EA practitioners with some real good stats on where we are at from an industry perspective.

What is also clear is that EA is now positioned to do what we have wanted to do for years, drive business results not just technology decisions. This is a big opportunity for us and it is now our opportunity to lose.

EA Practitioners Have Significant Influence on $1.1 Trillion in Enterprise IT Spend

Fifty percent of enterprise architecture (EA) practitioners have a significant impact on enterprise IT budget activities and decisions, according to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc. A July 2012 Gartner survey of EA practitioners found that half of EA practitioners have an influence over their organization's IT budget allocation that is either "final decision maker" or "great deal of influence."

Based on the EA survey results from Gartner events in North America and Europe, analysts estimate that EA practitioners have a "final decision-making" influence on $331 billion in worldwide enterprise IT spend and a "great deal of influence" on $774 billion in worldwide enterprise IT spending. Overall, EA practitioners have an influence that is either "final decision maker" or "great deal of influence" on $1.1 trillion in worldwide enterprise IT spending.

"Overwhelmingly we find EA practitioners focused on delivering on business value and strategic transformation," said Philip Allega, managing vice president at Gartner. "Gone are the days of just 'doing EA' with little value or impact. Sixty-eight percent of organizations surveyed stated that they are focusing their EA program on aligning business and IT strategies, delivering strategic business and IT value, or enabling major business transformation."

Gartner is leading the way in defining and mastering a radical new approach to EA, which is business outcome-driven EA. Leading EA practitioners are focused on creating diagnostic deliverables to help business and IT leaders respond to business and technology disruptions.

"This new generation of EA practitioners offers technology and service providers (TSPs) with an opportunity as well as a threat," said Mr. Allega. "Technology and service providers should develop targeted marketing to this new generation of EA practitioner as they have a significant influence on their organization buying decisions. Those that fail to understand the priorities, strategic focus and impact of EA practitioners will jeopardize their ability to sell into an organization."

Gartner has identified the impact of EA trends on IT purchasing decisions, and has the following advice and recommendations to help TSPs target this audience more effectively:

In organizations supporting EA as strategic, and as collaborative between business leaders and IT, TSPs will increasingly find EA practitioners influencing IT spend.

EA practitioners have a high degree of influence over emerging technology purchases, with 52 percent of the EA practitioners surveyed reporting directly to a CIO or CTO. They are also "very involved" in integration consulting services (64 percent) and business applications (52 percent). As EA practitioners continue to focus on integrating and aligning with business priorities and actively working with business leaders, their degree of influence on business intelligence tools, workplace tools and business applications will likely increase as well.

Organizations starting, restarting or renewing their EA efforts present an opportunity for providers to market to and influence a new generation of EA practitioners.

The survey revealed that 77 percent of respondents were either restarting or renewing EA efforts (18 percent), initiating EA for the first time (34 percent) or taking EA efforts to the next level (25 percent). In organizations starting EA for the first time, EA practitioners have a significant influence on IT budget decisions, but significantly less have decision-making authority. These new and restarting organizations present an opportunity for TSPs to target a new generation of EA practitioners.

As organizations become more mature in supporting EA, they will have a greater degree of influence on IT budget allocations to products and services.

Many organizations begin their EA journey by focusing inside the IT organization on system consolidation, standardization and cost management. As they mature, this evolves into looking more closely at the "alignment" between the business strategy and IT strategy. From here the EA program evolves further to become "business outcome-oriented," such that in a mature EA program, other areas of decision making are guided and influenced by business outcome-driven EA.

More Information

Additional information is available in the Gartner report, "EA Practitioners Have Significant Influence on $1.1 Trillion in Enterprise IT Spend”. The report is available on Gartner's website at http://www.gartner.com/resId=2286216.

TOGAF Demystification Series: TOGAF Certification is Weak

2013-04-03T11:21:45-04:00

Continuing on with our demystification series, I will talk about the comments I hear form people with regards to the TOGAF certification itself and the process. When I hear comments about this topic they usually gravitate to one end of the extreme to another. I often don't hear a middle ground. This for the obvious reason is an area of extreme passion, and rightfully so. After all we are talking about your career credentials, time investments in learning and the stressful certification process that architects will have to make.

In this post, I will talk about the specific myth that TOGAF certification is weak. I suppose that the term "weak" is a matter of perspective. As we walk through the post we can explore if TOGAF certification is weak and but a bit more qualification around that term.

Overview

With a total of 21,390 certified TOGAF practitioners worldwide, the TOGAF certification has proved to be a market leader in the industry. Combined With all those TOGAF practicing architects and the amount of focus on TOGAF there is bound to be opinions and perceptions around what it takes to become certified along with the level of quality in the process.

Taking a step back, TOGAF certification is based on its extensive experience certifying UNIX implementations. The Open Group believed that the certification process needed to be demonstrably objective—that is, the same results would be achieved, regardless of who executed the process. So, in addition to the publication of the TOGAF framework, The Open Group membership defined a policy for certifying TOGAF products (specifically tools and training), services (consulting), and individuals (practitioners). The requirements for certifying TOGAF tools, training courses, professional services, and individual architects are defined by four TOGAF product standards. TOGAF-certified training courses and TOGAF-certified professional services must be delivered by TOGAF-certified architects.

There are two ways an architect can become TOGAF certified: by taking TOGAF certified training, or by passing a TOGAF-certified examination. The training must address, and the examination will test, knowledge and awareness of TOGAF, and a thorough and complete knowledge of the elements of TOGAF listed in the TOGAF 9.1 Framework specification.

Is the Certification Weak?

Lets look at the areas that I have heard scrutiny on the TOGAF certification:

Achieving the Certification - The process one goes through to get certified. This is the least common concern I hear about but it does come up.
Pass Mark - By far this is the easiest to focus on. The TOGAF pass rate is set at 55% and 60%.
Test Style - I sometimes hear the TOGAF certification as a multiple guess exam.

Achieving the Certification
As I was sitting in on a training session for TOGAF a few months back this topic came up. It's a small misconception but I still wanted to talk about it because I think it's an important point to understand. The point at the training session was, "When do we take the test to become certified". Most people I talk to believe it is simple to get TOGAF certified. The common view (at least with the folks I talk to) is that all you need to do is go to a TOGAF trainer and then take a test at the end of the 4 days.

This simply isn't true. To preserve the integrity of the certification process The Open Group uses a third party called Prometric to administer the defined process. This ensures that there isn't a chance that training providers or other educators alter the process to make it easier (or harder for that matter) for the candidates.

It's subtle but there is an important point here, the TOGAF certification isn't just a certification that you can get by just going to the training and getting the award at the end of the class. There is a lot more to it.

How does the Pass Mark Compare to Other Certifications

The TOGAF Level 2 certification, which most people get is set at a 60% pass rate. I think this is a little low but I think it is acceptable. Lets face it, there is a lot of material to learn inside TOGAF. I'm not convinced that if you raised the pass mark up that it would yield significant better results. I believe that there are other factors at play to increase it's benefits to practitioners .

Let's compare TOGAF to other certifications. Below are industry leading certifications with their pass marks:

ITIL - Multiple choice with a pass mark of 65%
COBIT - 56% pass mark required or 450 right answers out of 800
PMI - A 61% or higher is required to pass

As you can see from the sampling of certifications in other disciplines TOGAF is not that dissimilar from other pass marks. Again, slightly lower but still in the same ball park.

Conclusion

Hopefully what I was able to do was to dispel some of the myths on TOGAF certification along with some hard numbers and comparisons. As I have said a few times in this post, I think the pass mark is on the low side but it's still in the right range and isn't drastically different from the industry.

So, love TOGAF or hate TOGAF it is the market leader in Enterprise Architecture certifications. The number of TOGAF certified praticiners continues to increase year after year and we see continued support from organizations world wide that recognize that as the defacto standard. I see the evidence from two primary areas:

From you… My peers in the industry. Linkedin forums and other social media platforms have given you an open microphone to voice your opinion. This Linkedin thread is just one example: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/What-is-best-certification-should-36248.S.102102747
The market… I have personally seen numbers as high as 60% of EA specific RFP's / RFI's that either require or prefer TOGAF expertise for EA specific work to be done. A post that I wrote two years ago called, "Enterprise Architecture Certifications Distilled" goes through number two years ago (which are staggering alone).