Link Collection (weekly)

• Three word definition of Enterprise Architecture: Reduce Unnecessary Effort – Inside Architecture – Site Home – MSDN Blogs

  More wisdom from Nick Malik: “I explained that I am an Enterprise Architect, he asked what that is. I got my chance to use my new three word definition of Enterprise Architecture: Reduce Unnecessary Effort.

  This is the goal of alignment: to reduce unnecessary effort. We find the things that could be done, and the things that should be done, but also the things that should not be done, and we use that information to influence the governance decisions in the business. When the business “announces” a solution to a problem, we are there to vet that solution to insure that we do LESS unnecessary effort. We may end up doing less work overall, or perhaps not, but a greater fraction of our project portfolio will be necessary (strategic) work.”

  tags: entarch enterprisearchitecture nickmalik

• High-Performing EAs Are Challengers « Service Disorientation

  “Challengers succeed because they can teach, tailor, and create constructive tension with the customer. To build challenger skills, focus on helping architects teach, tailor, and assert control.”

  tags: entarch enterprisearchitecture chrisvenable

• How Hugh MacLeod’s “Evil Plans” Became an Illustrated Business Manifesto [Slideshow] | Slideshows

  “In his new book, Evil Plans: Having Fun on the Road to World Domination, Hugh MacLeod teaches us how to a make a living doing what we love. In this slideshow, the author gives us a behind the scenes take on life and happiness.”

  “You gotta commit to your evil plan for it to work. True risk is about real change and being uncomfortable. “This is about thinking you can have it both ways, MacLeod says. You can’t shake things up without risking anything.””

  tags: hughmacleod

• In the real-time business environment, size is no

• Burley, King of the snow mountain on Twitpic

  My boy Burley, having beat Zephyr for the prized orb on snow mountain (a.k.a. my front yard)

  tags: burley

• Jack Griffin’s Ouster: Lessons from a Failed “Change Agent” – Julia Kirby – Our Editors – Harvard Business Review

  Great point: “a catalyst lowers a barrier to effect a transformation”

  “Act as catalyst not cattle prod. Chances are, there is change energy to be tapped in the organization at some level. To get at it, think first of what might be holding it back, and address those things. As in chemistry, a catalyst lowers a barrier to effect a transformation — it doesn’t apply a shock.”

  tags: change leadership

• Pennant: an Interactive iPad Visualization of all Baseball History – information aesthetics

  Data visualization + baseball! ‘Nuf said.

  “Pennant [pennant.cc] is beautiful. No, it is even better: it is an interactive history of all the details that make up baseball history, comprising all the events of more than 115,000 games that took place between 1950 and 2010. You’ll need an iPad though.

  Pennant contains all the usual suspects of the current infographic style book: expect flip charts, circular bar graphs, and the kinematically-enhanced bubbles, now for your finger tips. The different visualizations provide an historical overview of any team’s complete overall history (since 1950) and contrasts any team’s season to the rest of the league…”

  tags: data visualization baseball

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.