Aggregated enterprise architecture wisdom
Cloud is becoming the new norm for enterprises. More and more companies across the globe are using a combination of two or more private, hosted, or public cloud services – applying different technology stacks to different business scenarios. Hybrid clo…
Cloud is becoming the new norm for enterprises. More and more companies across the globe are using a combination of two or more private, hosted, or public cloud services – applying different technology stacks to different business scenarios. Hybrid clo…
Ah definitions, definitions – so many to choose from! But somehow, only a limited number of labels to go around, to share out amongst all those definitions? Which means that people end up using the same labels for different things,…
First there was Hadoop. Then there were data scientists. Then came Agile BI on big data. Drum roll, please . . . bum, bum, bum, bum . . .
Now we have data preparation!
If you are as passionate about data quality and governance and I am, then the 5+-year wait for a scalable capability to take on data trust is amazingly validating. The era for “good enough” when it comes to big data is giving way to an understanding that the way analysts have gotten away with “good enough” was through a significant amount of manual data wrangling. As an analyst, it must have felt like your parents saying you can’t see your friends and play outside until you cleaned your room (and if it’s anything like my kids’ rooms, that’s a tall order).
There is no denying that analysts are the first to benefit from data preparation tools such as Altyrex, Paxata, and Trifacta. It’s a matter of time to value for insight. What is still unrecognized in the broader data management and governance strategy is that these early forays are laying the foundation for data citizenry and the cultural shift toward a truly data-driven organization.
Today’s data reality is that consumers of data are like any other consumers; they want to shop for what they need. This data consumer journey begins by looking in their own spreadsheets, databases, and warehouses. When they can’t find what they want there, data consumers turn to external sources such as partners, third parties, and the Web. Their tool to define the value of data, and ultimately if they will procure it and possibly pay for it, is what data preparation tools help with. The other outcome of this data-shopping experience is that they are taking on the risk and accountability for the value of the data as it is introduced into analysis, decision-making, and automation.
Should we approach culture-change as if it’s the same as software-change? At a current conference, James Archer seemed to interpret Alex Osterwalder as saying just that: jamesarcher: Company culture can be methodically designed, built, and tested almost like a software product.…
The rise of the experience economy have brought with it accelerating developments in organizational patterns, business models, software, hardware and algorithms. Taken together it points the way to something new about how the enterprise architecture profession needs changing. The skills of the new ways of working vary, but they are all examples of how the […]
The rise of the experience economy have brought with it accelerating developments in organizational patterns, business models, software, hardware and algorithms. Taken together it points the way to something new about how the enterprise architecture profession needs changing. The skills of the new ways of working vary, but they are all examples of how the […]
One of the winners of this year’s Forrester/Infoworld Enterprise Architecture Awards segmented their EA practice into two disciplines: Innovation Architecture and Effectiveness Architecture. These two words describe the range of winners selected by our judges.
Before I announce the winners, let me tell you about why these two words are significant. The Forrester/Infoworld EA Awards have always sought to uncover programs that impact their business through the insight and value that only EA can provide. But many EA programs struggle with this – and the reason for this struggle lies more in themselves than in their context. Bottom line: They focus on “doing architecture” or on “being smart technical experts.” Many talk about being more business-focused but aren’t willing to change their thinking or how they engage with their business.
The five winners of this year’s awards have changed their approach to EA and delivering business impact, and the results show.
Currently scrambling through a swathe of slidedecks and suchlike… – that’s me getting ready for my upcoming ‘Antipodean Tour’, with a wide range of sessions on enterprise-architecture and related themes currently booked for various dates and places in Melbourne, Sydney…
As with all small independents in just about any industry, my /our relationship with ‘the big boys’ in enterprise-architecture is, yeah, kinda ambivalent at best. It’s not just that they make the most noise, grabbing most of the attention and…
Chess and the Art of Enterprise is now also available as PDF for those who like to read it on a device instead of on paper. This version looks exactly like the paper version (which means: more elegant than the iBook). … Continue reading →
Like all small independents in just about any industry, my relationship with ‘the big boys’ is ambivalent at best. All those big analyst-consultancies like Forrester or Gartner, the ratings-agencies like Moody’s or S&P, the big IT- or process-consultancies like IBM…