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Archives for July 2010

Reading for Enterprise Architects: The Four Phases of Design Thinking

July 30, 2010 By brenda michelson

At some point this week, I read a post by Warren Berger, author of Glimmer, on The Four Phases of Design Thinking.  I couldn’t help but notice the similarities to (good) enterprise architect thinking, especially phase 1, Question:

“If you spend any time around designers, you quickly discover this about them: They ask, and raise, a lot of questions. Often this is the starting point in the design process, and it can have a profound influence on everything that follows. Many of the designers I studied, from Bruce Mau to Richard Saul Wurman to Paula Scher, talked about the importance of asking "stupid questions"–the ones that challenge the existing realities and assumptions in a given industry or sector. The persistent tendency of designers to do this is captured in the joke designers tell about themselves. How many designers does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: Does it have to be a light bulb?”

While I chuckled at the light bulb joke, it was the next section that really caught my attention.  Back in my corporate chief architect days, I used to say to my team and peers in the leadership group that it was my job to ask questions.  Here’s why:

“In a business setting, asking basic "why" questions can make the questioner seem naïve while putting others on the defensive (as in, "What do you mean ‘Why are we doing it this way?’ We’ve been doing it this way for 22 years!"). But by encouraging people to step back and reconsider old problems or entrenched practices, the designer can begin to re-frame the challenge at hand — which can then steer thinking in new directions. For business in today’s volatile marketplace, the ability to question and rethink basic fundamentals — What business are we really in? What do today’s consumers actually need or expect from us? — has never been more important.””

Another synergy with the enterprise architect role is “Connect”:

“Designers, I discovered, have a knack for synthesizing–for taking existing elements or ideas and mashing them together in fresh new ways. This can be a valuable shortcut to innovation because it means you don’t necessarily have to invent from scratch. By coming up with "smart recombinations" (to use a term coined by the designer John Thackara), Apple has produced some of its most successful hybrid products; and Nike smartly combining a running shoe with an iPod to produce its groundbreaking Nike Plus line (which enables users to program their runs). It isn’t easy to come up with these great combos. Designers know that you must "think laterally" — searching far and wide for ideas and influences — and must also be willing to try connecting ideas that might not seem to go together. This is a way of thinking that can also be embraced by non-designers.”

So, my enterprise architect friends, I ask you this: Are you asking enough of the right questions to discover (and deliver) “smart recombinations”?

Read the full post. 

Filed Under: enterprise architecture, thinking styles Tagged With: design thinking

Monthly “Top Stories” Cloud Talk with Dave Linthicum

July 30, 2010 By brenda michelson

Dave just published the podcast we did this morning on our Top 3 Cloud Computing Stories for July.  This is a fun format.  Dave reports it is his most popular podcast of the month, which is a plus.

While I don’t normally give hints as to my picks, you can find the Open Group whitepaper here. 

Filed Under: circuit, cloud computing, podcasts

Join me: Event Processing Symposium: Capital Markets Edition – October 6, 2010 in NY, NY

July 29, 2010 By brenda michelson

Seems as though I’m channeling a conference promoter lately, but I’ve got one more to share.  A Capital Markets focused Event Processing Symposium in New York, on October 6, 2010, organized by the Event Processing Community of Practice.

In the opening keynote, Roy Schulte of Gartner will provide an overview of the commercial use of CEP (complex event processing), focusing on capital markets.  Roy’s session will cover these key issues:

  1. Buy versus build – When to use commercial CEP software and when to write your own
  2. Market landscape – Who are the major CEP vendors and what role does each play in capital markets
  3. Product selection – What to look for in an event processing platform

Opher Etzion, Event Processing Scientific Leader at IBM Research Lab in Haifa and chair of the Event Processing Technical Society, is our closer.  Opher will share insights from his research and his soon-to-be released Event Processing in Action book.

For more information, please visit the Symposium site.

 

[Disclosure: The Event Processing Community of Practice (CoP) is a client of my firm, Elemental Links. I am a member of the Event Processing Technical Society (EPTS).]

Filed Under: business ecology, event driven architecture, event processing

Optimization for Innovation Conference – Call for Participation

July 27, 2010 By brenda michelson

I’m working with the Business Ecology Initiative (BEI) on a new Optimization for Innovation Conference series.  The inaugural conference is “Optimization for Innovation: Reset; Joint Business & Technology Actions for the New Normal”:

As the world economy emerges from a painful recession, organizations are confronted with the challenge of retaining bottom-line diligence, while pursuing market sustaining and gaining innovation, in an environment riddled with uncertainty, increased regulation, consumer reluctance and tighter credit. This is the “new normal.” To execute in the “new normal,” organizations are seeking new ideas and techniques to optimize business operations and foster business innovation.

At the inaugural Optimization for Innovation conference, executives, senior-level practitioners, experts and thought leaders will share real-world experiences and pragmatic 90-day action items to harvest savings and trapped value from existing processes, resources and capabilities. The conference will consist of a combination of invited guest speakers, keynotes, case studies, presentations and tutorials.

By attending this conference, direct reports and senior staff of the COO, CFO and CIO will learn:

  • How leading organizations are optimizing for innovation
  • Business Optimization Techniques and Practices
  • Business & Technology Partnership Models
  • Business Performance Analysis and Measurement Practices
  • Business Risk Identification & Mitigation in a Connected World
  • Business-Technology Enablers

The conference is December 6 – 8, 2010, in Santa Clara, CA USA.  December 6 is tutorials.  December 7 & 8 are full conference days. 

This morning, we issued a call for participation.  We are seeking proposals for presentations including (but not limited to) the following topics:

Program Topics

  • Optimization for Innovation Success Stories
  • Business-Technology Reset: Optimization for Innovation
  • Governance Models for the New Normal
  • Business Analytics as Optimization Foundation
  • New Normal Linchpins: Business-Tech Savvy Professionals
  • Business-IT Alignment is a Dead-End
  • Business Optimization Techniques

Tutorials Topics

  • Instituting a Business Performance Measurement Framework
  • Cyber Risk Analysis: Assessment, Policy, & Economics
  • Business Process Modeling and Business Instrumentation
  • Lean / Six Sigma in the New Normal

Presentations and tutorials proposed should be geared toward an audience comprising direct reports and senior staff of the COO, CFO and CIO. All presentations and tutorials  must include a 90-day action plan for attendees to pursue post-conference.

The submission deadline is August 13, 2010. Please note, submissions that are direct pitches for product or services will not be considered. Submissions should be prepared in English, containing the following information:

  • Presenter name, title and affiliation
  • Presenter Bio
  • Session Title
  • 2 – 3 paragraph description of proposed session
  • 3 – 5 bullets on what attendees will learn
  • Target audience characteristics: role, skill and industry
  • 90-day action plan items

Submit abstracts as described above to Program Chair Brenda M. Michelson (me) via e-mail.

[Disclosure: The Business Ecology Initiative is a client of my firm, Elemental Links.]

Filed Under: business ecology, business-technology, innovation

This just in: SOA Success Secret #7

July 26, 2010 By brenda michelson

This morning, under a marketing-for-geeks tag, I tweeted SOA Secret #7: don’t say "increase re-use", say "eliminate rework”. 

For the 6 or so other secrets, check out my 6+1 Secrets of Successful SOA presentation on slideshare.

And hey, if you have [SOA Success] secrets you can share, please leave a comment or throw a tweet.

Filed Under: services architecture, soa

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Brenda M. Michelson

Brenda Michelson

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