Architect Like You Are Retiring

Thoughts on the Economy--Not Heard on the News

2009-02-22T10:17:00.010-05:00

I just returned from a fun filled family trip to Walt Disney World. I come back with some fresh perspective on life and the economy that you will NOT hear on the news tonight.

THE GOOD
We are NOT in a depression. Recession is really bad for some, but really not that bad for many. Airfares and Valet Parking can still charge extra for gas prices from last year. Small pieces of light up novelty plastic command top dollar. Not as much as those Disney pins--but still a good price. $7.99 for Chicken and Fries has to be doing some good down the corporate line. Let's hope that the layoffs at Disney are not the ride operators, cashiers or cooks. The Disney dining plan allowed me to enjoy meals that I would otherwise never elect to enjoy for the prices they are charging. Kind of annoying to overhear everyone's solution to the recession while they ate a $40 plate of food. Most of the guests visiting the park had some form of Designer or Disney based clothing on. I've often wondered why a 10 yr old requires Hurley, Holister or other really expensive clothes designed to look like worn clothes from Target.
Regardless, most kids (myself included) had smiles on their faces.

THE BAD
Ok, maybe I am officially getting old around this new fangled portable technology but really...
1) Watching Mini DVDs and text messaging on rides or while walking through the parks is just plain stupid. Why not sit at home on your couch at home N TOK 2 UR BFF N SAV SUM $. I actually watched two girls sitting next to each other...texting back and forth... LOL.
2) Moms and Dads...YOUR ARE ON VACATION. Get off the cell phone and blackberry. Yes I have a Blackberry, yes I brought it, but didn't scream into it while pushing my tired child through the February vacation crowds.
3) You just spent a LOT of money to enjoy a theme park. Pull the iPod headphones out of your ears. Yes the music and Sound FX are corny--but it adds to the overall escape from your regular world effect.
4) I finally figured out the "Rock-Paper-Scissors" equivalent for navigating crowds. Scowling mom pushing strollers beats Dad carrying sleeping child. Dad carrying sleeping child beats Large Man on Scooter. Large Man on Scooter beats Mom with stroller--makes her scowl even more.

THE UGLY
Some parents are convinced that the recession is the cause for more prudent decisions. Dad can grab his $12 beer in a souvenir plastic mug, Mom bought that nifty organic free range cotton grown recycled bag for $10 (and then stuffed it into an extra large plastic bag), but purchasing the stitching on the back of those mouse ears...maybe next year. 3 bucks is 3 bucks...might be a able to share a Powerade later on. And what's the deal with organic shirts anyway. Why spend $36 on a organic shirt? -- you are not helping the environment! Try spending $16.95 on a standard T-Shirt and put the other $20 towards a real savings...how about water control valves for showers. I tried to avoid the news and its constant barrage of depressing factoids. Here is what I overheard in the park: 'Looks like that mother did have something to do with her daughter's death'; 'Another child gets killed..'; 'Kenseth won the Daytona'; 'More companies benefitting from TARPA and other stimulus packages are sending executives to resorts', and 'Rihanna should have better standards in men'. So bottom line: Fear not liberal media...even on vacation your constant negativity is still seeping through the masses -- "old-school" style.

All in all, I say the economy is hitting people differently. Let's hope for the best and not hedge all our bets on the new man in the White House. Probably best to not blow all your vacation spending money just in case. My wife and I have a job today. That is no guarantee tomorrow. If it wasn't for the Disney Vacation Club, I would not have been taking that trip this year. Guess it was a wise investment. So ... make that extra mortgage payment and pay off that revolving credit quick. Then, let's all just relax, spend with caution, and rack up those gains in investments again as the recession subsides.

2009 Recommendations

2009-01-25T10:59:00.005-05:00

As we embark upon another year in the advancement of automation for our customers let us keep the following in mind:

The economy will not warrant wasteful spending based on introduction of technologies that add more value to resumes than portfolios.

This is the best time for Innovation. When there is less money and higher pressure, true genius has a chance to emerge. Give problems to fewer people to solve.

Let us not treat data frivolously...today's glom of data tucked away in a corner is next year's project to mine it for insight.

Enable process management when the business wants it...is there some shift happening that you can get a win-win from?

The fidelity of investments need to correlate to the level of investment and impact to your bottomline.

Its all about topline, so what are you NOT doing?

Start planning NOW for next years hindsight.

Consider the last 5 years of investment... where are you NOT spending this year?

Adopt a mantra to have teams own the list of next year's to-do's

In the end, its all about people...enable people to get to data, enabling people to get to our systems, enabling faster and cheaper change to the systems, and enabling people to better nurture the systems.

A Second Chance

2007-11-17T08:39:00.007-05:00

Jack Cassada asked about a post where I mentioned I almost died on a whitewater rafting trip. Here's the story Jack (finally). Before you begin, know that I have the video to prove this story is not embellished.

It was July 2000. Another couple, (good friends of ours), my wife and I travelled to Maine once agian to check out the fast water. In 1999, we conquered the Kennebec River. Beyond a couple slips in the water, the last being on purpose. It was a great time. Our confidence through the clouds, we figured we were ready for the big water on this year. The Penobscot is not the most challenging whitewater but when you intentionally schedule your vacation during a big "Release" of water from the dam to the North...it becomes shall we say a "challenging" ride.

So we emerge from our make shift "tarp-cabin" the 2nd morning and made our anxious way down to breakfast and then shuttle to the river. All of us were really amped for a fun ride. We broke into 4 teams of 6 and 5 Raft Guides started suiting up the paddlers.

I did say 6 teams right...oh yeah, about 15mins later, Hangover Harry waddled in. You see, when there is a big "Release", all the Raft Guide nut-jobs take off in the dark and compete to see how has the biggest cojones and braves "White Washer" by night. Should be illegal right? In a perverse way I think if a guide can bounce his/her butt off the rocky bottom of the Penobscot in pitch blackness then daytime should be a breeze... Anyway, they all must of had a great time and Harry (as I will call him --I do know his real name) clearly celebrated his courage by the fire all night long.

Back to the story, so...Harry asks us if any of us 6 (yes 2 strangers joined our shoddy crew) have rafted before. We all bobbed our heads up and down and the natural nerves of thrill morphed into natural nerves of fear as we prepared to be guided down the biggest river by the baddest drunk. Come on now, people pay for the thrill..we wore rafting jackets, if you fall out, you fall out...remember to keep your teeth together (keeps water out) feet up (keeps your foot from being pinned under a boulder or branch by 20,000 lbs of moving water.

So we drift out in a wide sprawl at the bottom half of the river and besides the guide falling in the water early ...by himself. We had a fun morning. I think the splash did him good.

Break for lunch and grab the bus north to hit the Class 5 rapids now that we are warmed up. The guide "prepares" us for what is about to happen while we stare at our BBQ lunch.

Harry: "Ok so this is the real deal...we are gonna hit some big water. When we first put in we gotta get to a perfect 15degree angle to the right. When the big fall comes the water turns the raft and as long as we hit this angle we will be fine. If we miss this angle, we are gonna flip and there's no edge to swim to...sheer walls of rock line the sides and if ya get wet keep your feet up and ride it out. It takes about a 3osecs to clear the whitewater. I will wait for you at the bottom. Two more things...if the raft flips, make sure you get out from underneath it...do not hang on to the raft. If we flip stay to the right. There is nasty pool to the left. Got it? Good, you'll do fine."

My buddy's wife: "Maybe we should skip this and let in at the bottom."

We put in 4th. The first team hit the angle but flipped at the bottom. They all cheered and got back in. The next 2 hit it perfect and had a great ride. Then there was us, the paddling lambs being brought to slaughter by Captain Morgan. We get in and without being told, we start paddling to 15degrees.

Harry: "Whoah guys, not yet. "

Harry: "OK NOW!!! Hard to right."

Crew: "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Harry: "Whoah not too hard...DAMN WE MISSED IT!"

Pause. So, at this point the raft was spun too far to the right and we went over at an angle. The boat spun and flipped back to front at a 45 degree angle (details are impressive--clearly the experience branded a memory eh?)

So up until this point my wife and tell the story the same...this is where we part in our recollection. First, her side...the boat flipped...she was launched...to the right...dunked by the falls, lost her water shoe, and bounced her a$$ down the right fork at the bottom of the river.

Now my side...the boat flipped, I went in and the boat landed on top of me and my buddies wife.

Pause...didn't Harry say something about that being bad....hmmm....

After being dunked into the falls my helmet pushed up underneath the the cross-member of the raft. Fear. Instinct taking over... swim like you've never swam before. My knee bashes a rock and I am thrown down to the left into that nasty pool I mentioned earlier. This is the point were the seriousness of the situation grabs me like a cold hand around my neck. I proceeded to be bounced like a corky up and down in the eddies. Pause...I hate opening my eyes under water. So at one point I am sucked down like Davy Jones sat on my shoulders and open my eyes. Underwater cyclones of bubbles spun around me like a the movie Tornado. It's so beautiful. Wait a freakn minute. I am not dying down here, I push off the bottom and gasp a full mouthful of water on the way out. All of a sudden a pair of angelic hands grabs my vest and pulls me over his kayak like a dead deer.

JT: (gasp...choke...)

Anonymous Kayaker: "Gotcha...You okay man?"

JT: "Hoo-ahhhh, Hooo-ahhhh (nasty sound of water exiting your lungs)"

At this point I proceeded to scream my wife's name like Rocky Balboa calling "Adriannnnne" at the end of his big fight. A few but painfully long moments later I see her waving and shouting for my buddies wife. A few moments later she comes over to me bruised and coughing water too. After we all calmed down. Big decision time...do we continue down the remaining 30mins ride with a new boat or head back in the bus that was called to pick up ourt busted (yes, I said busted) raft. My buddies wife and I both say "no way". We are cut, bruised, exhausted and tired of screaming swears at Hangover Harry. My wife and buddy (remember they went right...) are bruised but convinced that they paid to come up here...they are finishing the river. Sounds admirable. My buddy's wife and I didn't care one bit. I did try to talk my wife out of it but since it was with another guide I held my breath and didn't stop her.

In case your wondering...somehow Captain Morgan ended up on top of the upside down raft. Which to add more reality ... was actually broken. The mid-section blew out. Aren't those rafts supposed to be more durable?

Morals of my story:

Don't raft with a cocky guide whose hung over

When that near death sensation hits...fight it

If your pride is hurt, brave the river. If you're body is hurt by the river, brave your pride.

We laugh about the story to this day. My buddy and wife want to go again. I will go if she goes but I think I will work the Class 4 whitewater a couple more times before I brave the Class 5 with a sober guide again.

The Future Risks of Knowledge Acquisition

2007-11-03T11:13:00.000-04:00

Anyone who knows me realizes that the ever-present knowledge crisis are key to my messages. Today I want to take a completely different approach...

I want to provide the rationale for NOT developing solutions to address knowledge management. I will address this from two angles: knowledge completeness and knowledge behaviors.

KNOWLEDGE COMPLETENESS

If every person since The Enlightenment (post 18th century...I will not go off on a John Locke, Socrates or Newtonian diatribe) uploaded all their ideas, facts and beliefs into a master database we might have an interesting body of knowledge to work with. I have discussed in previous posts the 4 C's of the knowledge management problem: completeness, currency (temporal), credibility and correctness (Note: I wanted to add semantics but that only had a "C" sound and failed marketing approval. So, how shall we resolve differences of belief and fact? We all know two witnesses to an event (1) perceive things differently (2) retell the facts inconsistently. Do we take the democratic approach and 51% belief = TRUTH? Or perhaps we take a more Madisonian approach and filter out the riff-Raff and only analyze the leaders and people with PhD's? Perhaps survival of the fittest, trust knowledge from people that had least number of car accidents, medical bills and lived to be 100. I let you mull on that later... The key message is that no matter how much knowledge gets captured it will be incomplete, stale the moment its recorded and subject to influence of perception and the inherent human ERORR factor. So the problem we need to tackle is how to get a realistic amount of knowledge captured and readily make it available at the right time and with the right context. The imagery of some blending of the Star Trek Borg with a Stargate SG-1 and Mr. Smith from The Matrix. (I know some Sci-Fi junky out there actually gets what I just said...) come to mind.

KNOWLEDGE BEHAVIOR

AKA Learning...now lets think about this...in the future, we have no need for:

Books...because we will download information on demand from chips hooked into our brains.

Writing...because everything will come with some form of keyboard. Cursive will have become a interesting fad of the past.

Independent thought...because if information was good enough for the 789.9 trillion people before us.

Creativity...because without independent thought we have no new ideas. Ideas are bad, conformance to standard is good.

Progress...Walt Disney would have been the most disappointed. There is no "great big beautiful tomorrow..." "it can't any better than this."

Competition...the guy next to you and the business across town have access to the same ideas, so by now people and businesses have carved out there unique niche in the world and capitalism was retired with the mini-Ice Age in 90 years.

Emails, Blogging, Wikis and newspapers. I mean really, how old school can you get.

My favorite: Making mistakes. Humans are presented with knowledge across all there senses. Yes, young children will be told not to touch the stove...and at age 9 they look around and see how quickly they can rebel against their parents to see if they were right...Yeow! Fact is that most people learn the best from mistakes. Me too. I know that if I push too hard on a pencil the tip snaps. I also know we made a big mistake with that whole asbestos as a great insulation idea. Thomas Edison got this one. Making mistakes gets us closer to invention and teachs what to avoid next time. 1 + 1=3. As its been said before me, there is a fine line between genius and stewpid and its only by risking the illogical that we uncover the "new" or the last of my sacrifice list...

Innovation. Then again we can always hire consultants.

CONCLUSION

In the future we will wipe ourselves off the face of the planet. After going through an era of incredibly boring sets of generations becoming of overly logical Vulcans suffering from severe depression and exhausting the capability of the pharmaceutical industry to keep up... one major change in the Earth will wipe us out. We will encounter aliens, a super virus, super addictive drug, experience climate change or get smacked by a N.E.O. and because it wasn't in the forecast models...we did not change, we did not learn, we failed to evolve. The human species will disappear. Some alien race will fool us into helping us by jacking into out central systems, suck out the goodness and leave us like a planet of deflated human balloons reminiscent of Pink Floyd The Wall movie. The sad thing is most will never see it coming. Its a gradual shift every 3-5 years and not a big bang things. If only we had a John Connor or Neo to send forward to save us! Then again, perhap one has been sent...

Brotherly Love, Pure Communism, John Lennon and... OSS?

2007-06-24T09:33:00.000-04:00

This article is worth amplifying...

A Matter of Focus...

2007-06-24T08:50:00.000-04:00

I read an interesting article in New Scientist magazine recently.

The topic is MULTI-TASKING. I found some recognizable behavior in the article--both my own and others that I know. The article begins telling a story about talking on a cell phone while driving--not an unfamiliar topic to most. But I keyed in on some key messages. As we evolve technology so aren't we devolving patience and FOCUS.

Ever attend a Webinar and find yourself distracted by Email?
Ever attend a meeting and find yourself distracted by Blackberry?
Ever skim a document on your laptop while having a conversation with a colleague?
Ever meet with a peer or stakeholder and you find yourself :
(1) daydreaming?
(2) crafting your next dialogue in your head?
(3) wondering when this person will get to the point or mention the key phrase or position that they could have just TXTD U B4?
(4) Ever ask a employee to summarize a month's worth of work in a one-pager?
You know who you are...

The article in the zine indicated a human needs to repeat multitasked behavior 2000 time before we are productive (Remember the I Love Lucy with the conveyor belt of chocolate?) But there is a key difference...the behavior of corporate America is seldom repetitive and manufacturing oriented. We may need to build web screens, databases and develop log file solutiosn-- but rarely for the same customer spec with the same 4GL and version.

The point of this post is that there is clear behavior shift happening. I am not willing to stretch to the ADD debate but clearly cultural norms are shifting. We need repeatable process with customize results. (What does that mean?) We have access to and consume gobs more information than our grandparents did. We also need to react in seconds and not days. Gone are the times when we prepared proposals...met at the end of the week and a memo got distributed from a VP with the lightening speed of Inner Office Snail Mail. Decisions are expected at near real-time. Our new systems specs call for that behavior. Production = $, Production requires Thinking, therefore Think less=Produce More. We gain a breadth of information at varying levels of expertise and yet control with authority over less.

The modern day architect must be proficient in the Top 10 list of all the systems they support, know the customer and respond with a persona and tone that is customized to the audience, know and influence the IT strategy and roadmap, break ties in design debates and later justify the decision to the CIO with powerpoint not UML, and in a pinch debug a log file for a critical system with a memory leak.

And we wonder why its so difficult to hire good architects!
Take a breather, FOCUS, and skip that non-critical meeting to have a seat next to your developer and understand her perspective and insight.

Ask yourself when the last time you spoke and LISTENED to a system's REAL end-user?

Sowing the Seeds...

2007-05-06T08:42:00.000-04:00

Check out this post by world famous "charpentier de logique" James Mcgovern on UML and Software Engineering where he suggests that I am neither:

"architect nor engineer but more of an ecologist and gardener"

As is common for the artfully succinct yet loquacious Mcgovern. I initally read this as a back-handed compliment and took pause before responding.

Contre-riposte:
I do not what credentials, James accepts for being architect, but I am one. I can state that in confidence because the results of the majority of my architecture has been positive. Where it wasn't I will admit it was "due in part at least to my inability to make untractable clients see the truth in matters of design." (-Walter Hall to Frank Lloyd Wright regarding concerns for Fallingwater in1936) .

Lets get the point though...the words "architect", "software architect", "systems engineer" are all job descriptions/roles in Coporate America. I appreciate the observation of me as an ecologist, but that is probably a reflection of HOW I AM when I write and speak--think of style. Calling me a gardener is suggestive of my PHILOSOPHIES of organic growth, being a Johnny Appleseed of ideas when working with stakeholders (yes a few have sprouted) and being able to see a system as a garden and flourishing even though it has weeds and a couple bad plants - think of this as technique.

I like the similarities in the metaphor of architects and gardeners.

You can read books in both but never "get it" until you actually do it
You can get hung up on understanding the big latin words/technical terms or focus on requirements to achieve a result
There is no ONE book...but a Farmers' Almanac for IT seems like a future post idea
Successful gardeners do not just worry about there own gardens. They volunteer for others and always teach in order to learn themselves.
Few gardeners worry just about tulips (this ain't Holland) . We have many plants which like languages have different needs and problems.
We both worry about bugs--its just that the gardeners figured out how to work with like worms, honeybees and ladybugs (the good bugs)
We both are sensitive to "light"

Why Architects may be better than Engineers...

2007-04-13T18:14:00.000-04:00

James McGovern has an interesting post on Software ENGINEERING.
Here's a contrarian view James:

Perhaps Software Engineers were NOT enough about people which is why they are mostly found (1) hidden away in silicon valley behind Software Vendors or (2) in their Star Wars t-shirt and sandals working wireless from home.

The people side needs to be focused on 3 things:
- usability and making business automation better for users
- not overengineering UMLs to forward engineer the best and fewest lines of codes which does not directly impact the end user 9 times out of 10.
- leading developers and stakeholders through the quagmire of multiple technology implementations.

Perhaps, the term architect refers to software types that care equally about "software application" as well as the ability to delivery complex solutions to complicated organizations effectively. You will not find us in a five person non-IT start up, you will find many in an F500 organization. Maybe there's a metric hidden in there somewhere...
Number of architects divided by (gross revenue divided by number of employees).

Don't mistake my respect for the quality and brilliance of a well honed engineer.
Bring it!

DST Ends November 11th?

2007-03-11T15:53:00.000-04:00

I will not comment on the state of affairs related to the impact of the Daylight Savings Time changes.

Instead I hope I will scare you...many organizations do not know when DST ends!

I strongly encourage you to click HERE and see if your organization or organizations you purchase software from shows up.

Good luck.

CEP+BPM=$$$

2007-03-10T11:48:00.000-05:00

My sense is that CEP is due for an inflection point. See Brenda's blog . My fear is what we are learning about costs and management in the business rules space will only be a nit compared to fully deployed CEP and BPM solutions. How does an organization assess the appropriate amount to invest before the cost to add people seems preferable? What techniques will help? Will standards help?

Architect Like You Are Retiring

2007-02-23T18:38:00.000-05:00

Many folks have asked about the title of my blog...so seeing as though its been over a year, here goes:

Architect Like You Are Retiring is my personal mantra to keep me sane and hopefully successful.

And before I begin:
- get over the grammar issue with "Architect" as a verb
- I am not really planning on retiring anytime soon.

Here is what my mantra is about:

(1) Architect with a plan to not be critical path to understanding its elegance or complexity or style. This is a derivation on Keep It Simple Stupid.

(2) Plan for the design so that critical deliverables do not cascade across multiple years postponing your retirement.

(3) Design so that the brilliance of the solution would beg the company to hire you back after retirement to consult at twice your pension

(4) Design in a way that values people before process or technology such that people will miss you and invite you to subsequent years Holiday parties.

(5) Architect with realization that the security of your future pension and profitability of your company stock is based in some part to the efficiency and appropriateness of the costs of your design. Don't under-deliver on functionality, scale, quality, or security-- don't over-deliver under-valued functionality regardless of the powerpoints that show how "kewl" it will be.

(6) Design in a manner that assumes you will always be retained as an in-house resource in your organization. Architect "guns for hire" have NO vested interest in the 3 year plan.

(7) Workwith a realization that your likelihood of getting a good pay increase (which could later translate to a better pension) is based on your ability to
a) navigate the organization with efficiency and effectiveness,
b) gain experience with multiple systems and technologies,
c) be perceived as a employee with humilty and integrity who cares about the people who are building it and solution after its been released to Production.

I hope you appreciate my thoughts and please comment back with your own.

What would YOU do?

2007-01-08T22:14:00.000-05:00

Your challenge. Should you accept it...

You have been given $9 million dollars to invest in your IT shop.

You must invest this money across three domains:

People

Process

Technology

You must spend all the money (assume a fat bonus for your efforts in included).

So then, how do you spend it?

Are you a people person who believes more people = more productivity?

Perhaps you would hire top talent and raise the bar on quality?

Ah, but there a those who believe in process optimization...Cisk Zigma and all...will you deliver a manufacturing mindset?

Maybe a new or contemporary tool, software or mega server can make you a success?

It's all up to you...Do it!

I'm It!

2006-12-29T13:25:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Brenda for Blog Tagging me...

Hmm...so many obscure and unique things I could mention... but here goes:

Prior to joining the Financial Services industry I worked for a Hotel Management Group in Guest Services, Systems Administration and Front Office Management.
I am a Senior Demolay and Past State Master Councilor of Connecticut Demolay.
I am a Freemason .
My family and I are huge Disney fans and my favorite character is Steamboat Willie (1928).
In 2000 I almost drowned whitewater rafting down the Kennebec River in Maine. And have the video to prove it!

And now, for my tag victims:

Stephen, Robert, Dan, and Sam

Happy New Year and and a safe Holidays to my friends and readers!

Business Architect? Whatever!

2006-11-22T15:31:00.000-05:00

Although the term "business architecture" has different meanings to different organizations I do believe some boundaries are in order...

(Updated link) This is NOT Business Architecture.

This is also NOT Business Architecture.

I see an interesting behavior springing out of the industry verticals due to three facts:

> the term STRATEGY has lost its hype factor
> consultants with multiple years in industry and witness to many an organization's dysfunction are venturing off on their own thinking they know better
> business managers that were once successful in creating old school IT organizations, lost positions due to new school tactical innovators and integrators, are venturing off on their own to prove they were right

Bottom - line is that these groups that just don't get Business Architecture are starting a new hype around a ROLE and not a DOMAIN.

Am I wrong here? Doesn't Business Architecture belong in the IT organization?
Would really like some others perspectives on this!

The Best-est Bloggers...

2006-10-13T18:52:00.000-04:00

Check out todays "The Meaning of Lila" comic by by John Forgetta and L.A. Rose.

Two incredibly REAL behaviors ...

Business Architecture Anyone?

2006-09-30T09:56:00.000-04:00

It seems Business Architecture is the new hot topic?
I would like to survey the blogosphere for people who are in or work with organizations that have either Business Architects as a role or a published Business Architecture discipline.
Please post a response and help me gauge the interest corporations have with this domain.
The future of IT or just Hype? What do you think?
(Props to Lucasfilms for the image)

It's Been Awhile...

2006-09-30T09:54:00.000-04:00

I'm back!!! Sorry to my friends in the blogosphere for being quiet of late. No good excuses....just work and home balance a challenge lately. I officially join the ranks of parents with children in multiple activities: Baseball, Tae Kwon Do, Soccer and Gymnastics...not to mention the every other weekend birthday parties. Time for blogging has been scarce. I encourage all husbands to take their wives or family out to dinner tonight. Cheers!

Semantic Web

2006-06-26T07:34:00.000-04:00

I have begun my research into the realities of the Semantic Web.
Specifically, OWL and RDF.
Look forward to a post based on my findings.
Would value fellow bloggers thoughts on this topic...Particularly if you have implemented with this!

My Internet is Faster than Yours...

2006-06-02T21:00:00.000-04:00

CNN syndicated a Popular Science article about a two-tier internet .

This is a bad idea and our children will both regret and resent us if it happens.

The core backbone of the internet needs to grow and scale to meet the global demand for information exchange. We cannot allow the big players to carve out a premium version of the pipelines for a fast lane. The remaining network would be at risk for being left to wither.

I am all for increasing the bandwidth and continuing to prioritize traffic. If we need to ante up an additional $2 a month for everyone to benefit ... fine. I do not want to be left at late-80's AOL clocking when streaming content is the norm.

Please consider this carefully and if you feel compelled reach out to your congress person to express your opinion!

What do you think?

Amplifying Interoperability...

2006-05-02T20:43:00.000-04:00

contolledagility makes some great points in this post.

I guess in the end no one has the motivation to solve for INTEROPERABILITY.
It's not an Open Source thing since those that code in this space are (generally) one language oriented. It's not a Microsoft thing since they would be making it easier for customers to stay with non-Microsoft integrations. It's not a IBM/BEA/Oracle thing since they would be making it easier for customers to stay with non-JAVA integration.

Who has the confidence to step up to this? Vendors have nothing to gain. Speeding up delivery time for Integrators/Consultants costs them contract dollars. Middleware vendors make money off the complexities of the integration problem. CTOs and CIOs are trying to consolidate their platforms and not stratify them even more.

Perhaps if someone creates a tool for proving TRUE INTEROPERABILITY they could Open Source it ... Microsoft/IBM/BEA/Oracle can go fight for licensing rights.

In the meantime, its good architects supporting good developers to master the approach to "contract first".

What do you think?

Let's See Your Cards...

2006-05-01T20:29:00.000-04:00

To some, the world of architecture seems like a game. I see it in my company, I hear about it from friends in other organizations, and I read about it in the blogosphere.

So if Poker is the game, I have some questions:
(1) what are the table stakes?
(2) how does one get invited to the table?
(3) who's dealing?

As that I am a vigilant people watcher I also see the interesting behaviors.

Some folks play "just by the cards" . They react to what they are dealt and know the probabilities. Some are good enough to count the cards, but then it seems no one wants to play anymore.

Other folks play by the people. They read their opponents eyes, watch for cues and "tells" and are constantly on the look out for that darting of the eyes that suggests an "alliance" has formed.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that good work, or playing rather, does not go unnoticed. Sometimes the best players just get bad cards. Sometimes folks just get lucky. How do you decide what card is wild?

Are you a expert bluffer with the dark shades and cold as steel? Or maybe you are like me and cannot hide the Full House in front of you. Either way I hope most would agree that the most successful IT teams play "open face".

I call! Let's see your cards...

On Declarative and Dynamic Programming Languages

2006-04-12T20:44:00.000-04:00

James McGovern raises some questions about Declarative and Dynamic Programming Languages in a recent post.
Comparing dynamic programming languages to declarative programming languages is akin to revving the engine on your Minivan next to the Corvette at the Red light. The real question is have we selected the right tool for the right job. Just because any good handyman can turn a Phillips head screw with a flat-head screwdriver...does not mean you should.
I, as with anyone who has coded, will acknowledge the strength and efficiencies of well written code over declarative languages and output from Evil Wizards. Productivity is only one aspect of the equation though. I am vigilant proponent of Business-oriented automation. In certain circumstances, enabling business-oriented users to modify business assets using tools such as Business Rules and Content Publishing systems IS the most productive approach.
The key to bear in mind is that the business customer must accept the investment of IT resources to steward the SDLC and any supporting technologies around such business-oriented systems and their front-ends.

Thoughts on EA Cynicism...

2006-04-12T20:28:00.000-04:00

Scott Mark posted some brilliant thoughts on Enterprise Architects and their propensity for being cynics. I wonder whether or not the concern is less about feeling undervalued and more about wishing that they sovereign domain and discretion over the IT portfolio. What would a good architect do if they owned all budget and timeline decisions? Maybe corporations should have an architect "King-for-a-Day" day. Seriously though, Scott's post is very timely in that a group of architects I was with just today had a discussion on a nearly identical topic. There seems to be a pattern of the importance of architecture and the profitability of the business customer we support.

I submit that the ability to speak in business terminology should be a prerequisite for most architects. If you cannot communicate with your business customer, you should not be consulting with your business customer directly. Project managers play a key role in articulating the planning details, financial implications, resource requirements and timelines of project work. As I posted before, a healthy tension between project managers and architects is a good thing.

Further, Scott discusses the importance of "demonstrating the value of EA through participation". I would offer that marketing IT is critical in most IT leaders' minds. James McGovern has posted on this as well. In the end perception is reality.

So what's the answer? I am landing on a more mature viewpoint on marketing technology and architecture. Its a Band-Aid to trust problems or process issues. Don't get me wrong, I think its critical that success be celebrated. I do however feel that through empowerment, architects will internalize and declare themselves accountable for righting wrongs. Suggestion boxes, covert meetings with business decision makers, and financial incentive/disincentives are NOT the answer. Do we really think we have the one best answer to all problems if money, tools, timelines and resources are infinite? Should our customers be asking us to build Web Services and ESBs? Perhaps the real issue is that we spend too much time justifying technical details and not enough time demonstrating impacts to the bottom line and modeling new business functionality. Often times the best critical decision-making happens under pressure. If the business needs a economical commuter car and we engineer a Ferrari--we fail. If the business needs a strong truck and we deliver a quick and cheap Pinto--we fail. Every architect and customer must understand the REAL business problem and functionality we are solving for...in absence of that we have the potential for either designing too tactical or over-investing in undervalued capabilities.

Architects develop some cynicism based on missed opportunities and mistakes of the past. In order for one to have success with architecture and improving the IT portfolio, one must love it a little and understand it a lot.

What do you think?

Architecture Team...The Reformation...

2006-04-04T21:31:00.000-04:00

I have had conversations with IT leaders in 4 different companies recently and they all shared that they are going through some form of reorganization. I find it interesting and oddly coincidental that this trend is going on.

This reformation of architecture can have some significant benefits:
--> Increased architecture awareness
--> Realignment of resources in a way that better meets the emerging IT demand
--> Increased propensity of the architecture team to drive change to the portfolio
--> Common techniques for measuring value and assessing new work
--> Change always broadens experience and exposure to new problems
into the IT Portfolio
There are risks too:
--> Identity crisis
--> New onboarding process
--> Distraction from current expertise
--> Misperceptions from customers
What I am interested in hearing from the community on is this:
Is your organization realigning the architecture model?
If so, why?
Are you driving the change internally or working with a consultant/integrator?
What insight can you share?
I look forward to your comments!

Thoughts on Interoperability and Web Services...

2006-03-19T14:06:00.000-05:00

A fellow architect asked me to provide some thoughts on the meaning of INTEROPERABILITY and the significance to Enterprise Architecture.
It's easy to avoid the religious debate between the .NET and JAVA communities by touting terminology like INTEROPERABILITY . Its time to resurrect (and please help me amplify) concern on this topic...
I have seen posts here and here and here that discuss INTEGRATION and INTEROPERABILITY. Static interfaces evolved to loosely coupled integration and that's nice and all...but what about exposing .NET services to JAVA based consumers? and let's not forget JAVA based services for those MS consumers...
How we go about designing Web Services is critical. Development teams need to understand the differences in data serialization and as well as have and understanding of XML namespaces and the realities of WSDL:IMPORT. We all need to push INTEROPERABILITY and DOCUMENT bases Web Services as a primary design pattern. We all need to push for establishing the "contract" first in our projects. The WS-I Basic Profile helps but when at least 5 types of Web Services are possible how do you choose? Document Literal-Wrapped is my favorite...but do not expect SOAP with Attachments without SAAJ and MTOM or other meta-transformations...What about good ole' REST?
-->The first truth behind INTEROPERABILITY is that it requires more work
-->The second truth is that it is not easy to exhaustively test for
-->The third truth is that it does not solve for cross-platform or cross-protocol without additional infrastructure
Folks comfortable with tools such as WSDL4J, JAX-RPC and the equivalents in WSDL.EXE can generate their startup classes very quickly...but not so quick for the resulting service to be INTEROPERABLE. Some folks tout additional tools such as SOAPscope or SOA Editor (what a bad name) or StylusStudio or WSDL Editor or Visual Studio or Eclipse plugins or oXygen or others...
My problem is there is not one tool that does the job great...one is good graphically, one is better a testing, one is better at validating syntax, blah blah blah...I'll just write it myself in Notepad.
Can folks please COMMENT and help the 'Bloggernet':
1) amplify this dirty little secret
2) understand your choice in tools
3) learn some of your tips
The knowledge crisis continues...

Thoughts On The Flu...

2006-03-11T14:38:00.000-05:00

The week before last my beautiful wife can down with the flu...not just any flu...but that nasty one that chases kids around at the playground. For a week she was NOT the wife and mom I used to know. For a week I had to change my habits and plans to accommodate. And then just as she was good enough to get back on her feet (Yes!!!), I got food poisoning. Yuck! I never felt so at one with my toilet before.

I believe every experience in life has meaning that transcends the moment. So here are a few of my learnings:
(1) Experience: Young children don't care if you are sick. They still want to play games with you. Learning: Your business customer does not care about system moratoriums, if anything they want to increase the release items.
(2) Experience: I told my son we would go out and play after his sister woke up from her nap. My son decided that the loudest toys were the best ones to play with in the meantime. Learning: Do not pin people against one another or cause your problem to be someone else's. People are inherently creative and will surprise you.
(3) Experience: Don't forget to let the dog out... Learning: If you ignore your people they will piss on you when you need them to just leave you alone.
(4) Experience: The laundry can wait, the dishes can wait, the vacuuming and dusting can wait. Learning: If someone else doesn't do the day-to-day... you will--and its more work by the time you get to it.
(5) Experience: Rather than drive 15 more minutes...I spent $30 on magazines, ginger ale and saltines at the local convenience mart. Learning: People in adverse times will throw away money even when they know a little patience would help them save in the long run.
(6) Experience: When you are sick its a crisis and everything is miserable. Learning: Cope with crisis by having people equipped with the tools, training, and communications to help you fix it. Oh, and be nice to the in-laws...they can really bail you out when you are sick.

Overall I learned a good case of illness can definitely reset your perspective. Today I appreciate my beautiful wife, the sun is out, I like my job, and I enjoyed taking my children to the playground.

More on Resumes and Interviewing...

2006-02-25T12:52:00.000-05:00

Scott Mark asked that I post on resume points that I consider important and figured I would discuss a few thoughts on interviewing too.

THE RESUME
There are two types I see most frequently...chronological (I worked here, then here, then here) and functional (this is the kind of work I have been involved with). It's really up to personal preference (avoid the hot pink paper) but I recommend stepping back and considering if YOU were hiring YOURSELF which version works: have you had 4 jobs in the last year? (consultants excuse that last comment please) Have you had several different roles at one company for many years?

Four things I encourage folks to consider:
a) Spell Check...as much as this sounds obvious, I do see resumes with typos and grammatical errors. Read your resume bottom-to-top (backwards)...you will see your grammar differently. Last but not least, ask someone you trust to give honest feedback review and critique.
b) Real estate... least number of pages required to sell yourself. Some people say 1 or less than 3...use good judgment and careful with abusing margins and font size.
c) Which points do you want to consume the most real estate? I worked for 3 years in high school at a grocery store, probably not the topic I want to write a lot about...unless Fred's Food-o-Rama needs an Architect. The length of details you provide on a position should decrease as you go back in time. Ask yourself after having re-read your resume 3 times: What one unique message, talent, or theme do I want my audience to remember about me? (even if you do not get the position this time..having a memorable hook may open a door later on)
d) Know you audience. If you do not know who is interviewing...Ask! If your audience is HR or General Management, having grainy techno-babble may not work. If a potential peer is interviewing having some clear technical references using common industry terms may help sell your skills.
*** DO NOT BUY YOUR RESUME!!! ***

I do feel strongly about writing your own resume. It's your story...you should tell it...use your words. I do encourage getting feedback from others and reusing sentence fragments that resonate for your experience. If you lack the skills required to write effectively its only going to become apparent later on when you get hired. If you have a glorious resume that is so pretty its almost artful...and that resume does not reflect your voice during the interview...it will show. You will get 1 point for having a good resume but -1 point for confusing the interviewer. A power resume may get you an interview, but assuming you have the necessary talent and motivation to do the desired job...a resume that accurately portrays who you are will improve your chance of me recommending you for hire.

Okay, so right now I feel a bit guilty, because I am not the best from a grammar perspective. I admit (on occasion), slipping into passive voice, not having enough spaces after my periods, abusing my periods-of-ellipses (kind of my trademark style) or duplicating the work "the" across lines...I am human after all...but I would not make the same mistakes on my resume.

THE INTERVIEW
Five things I encourage folks to consider:
a) Be yourself. Its how you are most comfortable. Don't be a poser. I remember a manager who hired this well-groomed guy with a suit and tie ...first day of work out came the messy hair and baggy skate boarder clothes. If you want a job where you can wear baggy skate boarder clothes...don't wear a suit to the interview! Hello!!
b) Smile and make eye contact. Big shocker, not the first person to advise this...its clearly a borrowed concept. I have interviewed people who wouldn't maintain eye contact...and remember one where this woman stared at me the whole time. Weird. Have the confidence to maintain a professional conversation or go flip burgers.
c) Be prepared to discuss the standard interview questions and also have the facts about your recent work ... avoid referencing own resume during the interview unless you are directlyng the interviewer to topic. Do not come off as a "yes man" , have a positive attitude, show them you are a team player, and explain how you are self-motivated.
d) Ask questions. As much as interviews are designed to convince the interviewer you are the best candidate for the position, make sure you understand the position and talent being expected. Most people can cope with a bad fitting job for a while, but let's not waste each others time here. Asking questions demonstrates interest, furthers the dialogue, and alludes to an inquisitive personality which most IT positions require.
e) Follow-up with a thank note. This may seem old-school, but it demonstrates manners which are always a plus.

Finally a few special notes for the architects...
a) Do not sell me on EA, tell me what your viewpoint on EA is...
b) Do not sell me on how you've implemented SOA, tell me about the challenges and what aspect are most important to you...
c) Not every service needs to be a web service, tell me you understand this concept...
d) UML is good, Visio is good, RUP is okay, Agile is okay...tell me about how you apply them to architecture and that you are not hung up in documentation.
Comprehension comes from our discussions not documents.

Good Luck!

"Resume Points To Consider If You Want A Job At A Large Enterprise " -Scott Mark

2006-02-21T19:49:00.000-05:00

Amplifying Scott Mark's recent post on resume points.

Architects need to post on this topic more!

Bloom's Taxonomy Revisited...

2006-02-18T14:24:00.000-05:00

Donald Clark documented the 3 forms of learning with reference to Bloom's Taxonomy.
Today I will revisit Bloom's Taxonomy with an angle towards architectural decomposition.

The ground floor of "my" pyramid also begins with knowledge. I have written before about making the tacit -- explicit and about the knowledge crisis in which most of us exist. In order for us to learn we must start with the residual knowledge which we have harvested on our unique walks through life.

The next floor up I call comprehension. Knowledge expressed and regurgitated with rote memory recall is insufficient. I can teach a child that 1+1=99. That child can recall that as knowledge, but not comprehend its meaning and inherent incorrectness. This requires comprehension...and the capability to fully understand with intelligence.

The third floor is analysis. This is the critical thinking challenge, questions, and decomposition of every problem architects seek to solve. I can know a need for web development... I can comprehend that .NET is a good approach...I can also comprehend that Java is a good approach. It is through analysis that we discover the best fit.

Up to the fourth, application...ah yes the sweet sound that rings in all architect ears every day. For this purpose application means taking the results of a problem's analysis and applying it. Application refers to the ability to both apply knowledge via the common mechanisms of communication and the ability to take that which has been communicated and construct its core essence. (e.g. writing your first HelloWorld program.)

The fifth story is all about evaluation. This capability is about taking your own knowledge and applying critical thinking skills. Its also about looking at other's applications and making judgments about its characteristics, qualities, efficacy, and weaknesses.

DING! Welcome up to the Egyptian penthouse everyone. Sixth floor... everyone off! Welcome to the enlightened capability called synthesis. The proverbial 1 + 1 =3 . This learned technique is both innovative and evolutionary. Taking distinct components and applying them together to form a new, unique, integrated solution. This is the harmonic blend of reuse and creation. This is what good architects strive for...

So this is "my" pyramid:

What do you think? Does this resonate? Does this help with something you are working on?

The Music in All of Us... (Part 1)

2006-02-11T10:12:00.000-05:00

Peers and fellow bloggers of mine have often discussed the common threads that bind us together--beyond our interests in technology.

Today I want to tell a story about music, more specifically the ability to play an instrument. I have a theory that many of us SuperGeeks have played a musical instrument or two. For me, its drums. Specifically a 1989 Ludwig Rocker 5 piece in classic black with Zildjian cymbals. My set is not new, has scratches from its travels, and no electronics...but it has hours of memories. Jazz, fusion, rock...lots and lots of improv. Music was, and is, a great form of personal expression. Just as people are not born with the ability to write code and understand design patterns, so to are musicians required to learn and practice. Although my drum set is "how" I expressed myself, the real channel of this energy came from my teacher Mr. Noga. He took a wanna-be...taught him to read music, gave him some chops, and introduced him to the real meaning of jazz. As much as I am so appreciative of that gift, he knew he could not do it alone. In order to set the glue of my instruction I required two more steps:
(1) Play. Work with peer with skill. One of my fellow percussionists was on his way to college soon on a drum scholarship. He was good, real good. He practiced religiously and clearly had talent. I on the other hand, needed honing. This was how it was done. Mr. Noga gave me passes to the music room twice a day for 3 months. The first hour was for me to practice. The second was a jam session with my new mentor and two drum sets. He was intimidating. I crumbled the first few times I attempted to keep up with him. And then, after being significantly frustrated with his showmanship and lack of impress, I closed my eyes and exploded on the drums. I never thought I had it in me, but I finally opened up and became part of the music...and the confidence that comes with it. My peer somehow now vouged for me...I COULD play. Do not get me wrong, I was no Buddy Rich or Neil Pert...but I could keep up with my peers that had been playing for many years longer.
(2) Performance. I needed to take what I learned and apply it publicly for others to judge...and only then earn new confidence.

It is only recently that I learned the third step in music. The power of passing it on. My soon to be 5 year old son and 2 1/2 year old daughter love to play on my drums and see me play them. A great feeling comes from jamming and seeing children dance.

So what's the moral or points of the this personal story?
(1) There is amazing commonality in learning to play music and learning to play technology.
(2) Its not enough to learn your skill, you must work with peers to both perfect it and gain acceptance.
(3) You need to pass it on...give advice, provide documentation, teaching another your art.
(4) Above all? Practice. Make mistakes. Look forward to new mistakes everyday. Learn something new. I have nowhere near the chops I had when I was in high school...but I can still practice.

What do you play?

Me-Too On SaaS and Mashups...

2006-02-05T06:53:00.000-05:00

There have been a flurry of postings recently on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Mashups.
Sandy Kemsley posted on this recently and folks like Robert McIlree were quick to pick up on her thoughts.

My two-cents on SaaS is that it poses an interesting angle for accessing external data and hosting opportunities (for me especially with disaster planning). The analysts seem to be pushing hard on this... For the mid-sector this may provide a try-before-you-buy opportunity. For the larger sector, not so sure. There needs to be a key differentiator with uniqueness/specialization of the service, performance, ease of engagement, or quality of the results. I will chime in with the others with my cautions on security, business continuity of your data and scalability. On the hosting matter, servers get bigger and bigger...and come in smaller and smaller boxes. What happened to doing real capacity planning and did not have to worry about what server and what hardware provider will demand manage and provision it new? Am I alone with this one?

FYI, the term SAAS has a both interesting and respectful meaning for Muslims .

Now on to Mashups...uh boy. Where's James McGovern and his B-Boy references... I think mashups are on a fast hype curve.

Bottom-line composing two or more heterogeneous services into a single solution is the job of every portal, enterprise integration project, and sometimes orchestration solution out there...Hello? Again...different play for the smaller sectors...but we really need to educate our customers on where wisest to spend their money. What is it that these providers have figured out that we haven't to deliver on the benefits of EA and SOA? Looking to be educated by someone with a mature thought who knows of a quality and worthwhile option. Please comment and help me out here.

American Architect LIVE 10pm EST...

2006-02-01T22:10:00.000-05:00

I think it would be awesome to turn on my overpriced basic cable at 10pm Wednesday night and instead of seeing played-out reality show season #9 or that used-to-be-funny program searching for the country's worst singing talent...and instead see "American Architect LIVE". It could be as technical as that hospital show or maybe that one about forensics we all love. Then a spin-off series called Design Pattern Busters could keep our eyes glued. Just think...a 60min episode dedicated to the life of architecting that's deeper than a sit-com but would make me laugh more than the Comedy Channel. Instead of lame commercials created by retired XGamers we could have architects delivering their video resume'-- live. No wait, it could be like that dating show...CTO's could invite architects in and the longer they last through interrogation... the more money they will earn. Now that would be funny!

Ah...youth. What about instilling some icons during childhood? Forget Superman...I want to go buy the latest DVD for SuperArchitectDude. To SOA...and beyond! Complete with a game for your portable A.D.D.Boy console or PDA.

Ha! We will have every american youth salivating to get accepted to an ivy league school with a computer science program.

Oh, and remember that police show, how about EA Whisperer ...on the life and times of architects...requirements work sessions, crisis meetings, strategic planning, design reviews...where's my camera crew? Make-up!

Sometimes life is so serious...take time to relax, smile with your family, and be thankful that you have a job and its not a Dirty Job.

Dilbert

2006-02-01T21:10:00.000-05:00

At the risk of sound like a poser posting the one millionth reference to a Dilbert cartoon, here goes...

Scott Adams often hits home with his wit and wisdom.

Requirements...requirements...requirements.

Its almost trite to say -- but we all know requirements can make or break a project.
Today, I offer two opposing viewpoints on requirements gathering and ask others in the blogosphere to chime in with comments--and prove that I am not alone in this interest.

Theory #1:
Customers are NOT capable of providing good requirements.
Sub-theory A:
IT requirements frameworks are too abstract and prevent the customer from giving the information we need in the format we need it.
Sub-theory B:
People that have learned the sacred skill of providing good requirements are not permitted to advance to positions where they would become agents for change and provide them directly.
Sub-theory C:
Good subject matter experts and business analysts are assigned to projects where they do not have experience. Thus, additional time and semantic churn is needed.

Theory #2:
Customers DO provide us with all the information we need.
Sub-theory D:
Developers and architects are poor listeners.
Sub-theory E:
Customers provide dialogue and desires. Developers and architects need to convert that to facts and prioritized assumptions.
Sub-theory F:
Architects should write the requirements for projects to ensure she/he understands them and presents the vision in a manner that optimizes developer understanding.

But what really matters is what YOU think.

Thoughts on Governance...

2006-01-29T21:01:00.000-05:00

By special request of a fellow blogger I am posting the following opinions on governance.

Governance as defined implies a subset of people with authority, providing direction, and by default assumes some spectrum of politicking –- or more properly stated: differing viewpoints on shared issues. We will see governance in several domains, some formal some informal. We find governance in IT Strategy, Finance, Business, Projects, and even HR. Some of the more common formalized governance is very process-oriented. The informal governance of a decision can be handled with behavioral interaction (i.e. having unmanaged meetings with key stakeholders to gain consensus) peers and managers I have worked with often call this “socializing”. There is a subtle and more subversive means of informal governance in which influential individuals lobby for or against a decision / project / promotion. Although actions like this may historically have saved groups from serious mistakes, it’s not always repeatable and may create an environment where permission isn’t asked for...forgiveness is.

Although I enjoy articles such as this from ZapThink, I suspect there is no self-help audio tape, book, or analyst framework that has the secret-code on governance cracked (although by way of this blog I invite comments to the contrary!). It’s often a product of the culture. It can be a predictor of change. It’s usually a sign of delegated leadership. The one thing that I suspect most would agree on is that it’s always painful at first to get assimilated.

To conclude this soap-box, here’s my advice:

• Keep the process simple and well documented
• Keep the number of participants to the smallest number possible...but no smaller
• Invite resources from multiple parts of the organization to sit-in on sessions to eliminate shrouds of secrecy
• Identify neutral moderators who can set calendars and take notes
• Assess behavior aspects from two different dimensions:
(1) The organizational model...where you’ve been
(2) The strategy...where you’re going.
• IT governance needs to include people that understand the technology
• Governance can be more valuable across domains, too much detail will corrupt agility
• Governance decisions need to be audited and enforced
• If a leader appoints a governance body, that leader should avoid overriding or circumventing that body's delegated authority
• Success can be measured equally in work that gets halted as in work that gets accelerated
• Some of the best governance is self-governance and empowerment. Start with architect education. Groups of business analysts, project managers, developers, controllers, architects, application owners... all are candidates for taking on this accountability. By having everyone own a piece, a common respect and buy-in for the overall direction evolves.

In the end it’s just about leadership and prosperity.

BRE vs. BPM

2006-01-28T15:19:00.000-05:00

The debate between BPM/Workflow engines and business rules engines (BRE) needs to STOP!!! Although there technically "CAN" be some overlap in an implementation, there "SHOULD NOT" be or customers may suffer refactoring and conversion when they finally define where lines are drawn. Oh yes, and let's not forget the analytics nightmare that can evolve out of this mistake.

Here's the answer...its really simple...okay...ready...everyone listening?

BPM tools are made for process automation, workflow and routing.

BRE's are made for decision management, can use inferencing, and are context sensitive.

Any attempt to select one to do the other is unwise. Period.
There are use cases where the two may be implemented in a complimentary fashion, but I will save that for a future posting.

I welcome comments on this or any post.

On Architects and Project Managers...

2006-01-25T21:30:00.000-05:00

As our IT environment has grown more distributed, so hasn't the need to fragment the support of the assets grown? It used to be a business customer negotiated with an application manager (with vested interest in an application) to get work done. Nowadays a project may get assigned a PM that is not familiar with an application or the technologies in use. This is indeed a failure of the PMO mentality. James McGovern makes an interesting argument about PMs ... and other bloggers allude to a link between the technical background of a PM and their ability to be successful. PMs often get assigned to projects where a new solution or significant system changes is occurring. It is not their job to deliver on the promise of SOA or balance the impact of the changes to the IT portfolio--nor are they rewarded for such. That's the architect's role. There is goodness in a healthy tension between an architect and a PM on a project. Done correctly there is balance like Ying and Yang. Their priorities are just different. PMs need to get the function deliverables complete, on-time, with minimum number of resources and come under budget. Architects concern themselves with non-functional qualities, least amount of design change to meet the need, and implications to the greater environment. PMs need to be selected for their capability to deliver...the same reason you would not assign a DBA to write java code (no offense to those with both talents), you would not take a business-oriented PM ... and put them on an SOA refactoring project. Bottom-line it’s the right person for the right job. I know PMs that think like architects and I know architects that work like PMs. That's what makes them special.

Who is James Allan Tarbell?

2006-01-23T20:38:00.000-05:00

James aka "JT" is an architect with a Fortune 100 Financial Services company in the Northeast.

Although he enjoys working in general solution architect he is also a Licensed Property and Casualty Agent with specialized experience in: Commercial Underwriting, CRM, QA/Test Strategy, Java Development, Web Development, Data Warehousing and Reporting, Middleware, Legacy Integration, Web Services, Portal, Performance Architecture, and Business Rules...to name a few.

In his spare time he enjoys reading about and discussing technology topics, doing home construction projects, and spending time with his wonderful wife, 4 yr old son, and 2 yr old daughter.

Please learn more about JT on his blog!

Warriors rule, Warhawks drool !

2006-01-22T11:02:00.000-05:00

I see a fellow architect also named James is pleased I have joined the "blogosphere".

Hmm..."blogosphere", odd word ... why not "bloggernet"? ... the domain is available.

Anyway, looking forward to posting on several topics.
Thanks to James for inspiring me to start.
We can definitely agree that he and I will share some healthy debate and entertain our avid readers.

Architect Education Cleverly Disguised

2006-01-19T22:03:00.000-05:00

Given proper instruction and reinforcement, the majority of architects can perform at an exceptional level.

We must develop our architecture skills and competencies leveraging the depth of our experiences and breadth of our perspectives.

Here's how:
Foster architecture leadership and become an agent for change.
Teach other architects how to apply and transfer knowledge.
Encourage creativity and innovation.
Learn to recognize mature thought.
Enhance your speaking and documentation skills.
Provide other architects with technical and business information.

Knowledge Crisis

2006-01-19T21:37:00.000-05:00

When it comes to knowledge we all seek it, have been taught some, and yet have learned best on our own. I often feel that we are all wandering in the midst of a knowledge crisis.

Join me in this ongoing dialogue as we explore the knowledge crisis of an architect and try to make that which is tacit...explicit.