Agility within The Open Group

What an exciting event in the city of Denver, Colorado the week of July 22, 2019! If you were at this conference you would probably have noticed the breadth and depth of work happening in The Open Group and, as well, noticed the impact it is having throughout various industries. A lot of really great stuff is going on thanks to those members working on real issues best addressed through collaboration! Kudos to the Members!!

One of the things I heard from some Members, expressed as a “potential” issue, was work being done that might be considered overlapping. Specifically referenced was TOGAF® Architecture Development Method, the Digital Practitioner Body of Knowledge™ (DPBok) Standard, and Snapshot of The Open Group Agile Architecture Framework™ Standard. After giving this some thought I felt compelled to present the optimistic view of this based on my experience with The Open Group over three decades!

The Open Group Denver 2019 – Event Highlights

The Open Group hosted its latest event in the beautiful Mile High City of Denver, Colorado, at the Four Seasons Hotel, July 22 – July 25, welcoming approximately 300 attendees from 14 countries including Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Netherlands, India, UAE, and Denmark. The event’s theme, ‘Agile Architecture’, explored the intersection of Agile methodologies and Enterprise Architecture.

Snapshot of The Open Group Agile Architecture Framework Standard – A Conversation with Walters Obenson

As organizations around the world pursue more agile ways of working to innovate, attract and retain customers, drive best-in-class operating efficiencies, and respond quickly to changing economic and regulatory conditions, the architecture profession must evolve to support and drive such outcomes.

In continuing over 30 years of publishing award-winning leading practice standards for IT, The Open Group presents the Agile Architecture Framework™ (AAF), a comprehensive revision of core architecture practices – updated to compliment modern, digital operating models and agile development methods.

Finally – A Body of Knowledge and Standard for Digital Practitioners!

Finally – A Body of Knowledge and Standard for Digital Practitioners!  No, I’m not talking about practitioners of Digital Marketing; “Digital Experts,” “Digital Directors,” “Digital Marketing Managers”, “Digital Brand Managers,” etc. have been around for a couple of decades now…

Managing Digital Transformation with Support of Enterprise Architecture

I applaud the choice in the book “Managing Digital, Concepts and Practices” by Charles T. Betz “to NOT include dedicated chapters on “Project Management” and “Process Management.” Instead, more general chapter titles of “Coordination” and “Investment and Planning” were chosen. I like this because the more general terms get to what must be done and get away from the legacy disciplines that have been assumed to be the right and only way to get them done. In other words, I think we have lost the reason for employing legacy disciplines and they have become embedded, maybe even institutionalized, without accountability for adding value – especially through answering questions to support decisions. On the other hand, I do not feel that one should simply dismiss the goodness of legacy disciplines lest we throw the baby out with the bathwater!

Agile Architecture in the Digital Age – a Conversation with Frédéric Lé

The agile transformation of the enterprise is becoming a pre-requisite of an effective digital transformation project. This requires organizations to adopt a product-centric, outside-in perspective, evolving product and service portfolios – as well as business and operational models – to deliver value faster than ever before. All this, whilst being closely aligned to the businesses needs and objectives.

We spoke with Frédéric Lé, Technology Strategist, Corporate Technology Office at DXC Technology, in advance of The Open Group Denver 2019 event to learn more about how digital leaders and their teams can steer transformation, something he has coined ‘DigitAgile’.

An Above-and-Beyond Organization… Behind the Scenes with The Open Group

So you’ve heard of us (who hasn’t?!), and you might even work with us, but do you really knowThe Open Group? We are a compact but passionate team who tirelessly work together and with our Members to achieve our goal of developing technology standards and creating Boundaryless Information Flow™.

So, to go back to basics, who are we and what do we do? Well, in short…

The Open Group Open Subsurface Data Universe™ (OSDU) Forum Update

The Professional Petroleum Data Expo was held April in Houston by the Professional Petroleum Data Management Association (PPDM). This conference is one of several events this spring where The Open Group Open Subsurface Data Universe™ (OSDU) Forum unveiled a new standard in development that will facilitate movement of oil and gas company exploration, production, and wells data from in-house IT systems to cloud services.

The Open Group was a sponsor of the event, and had a presence in the exhibition hall. There was a steady stream of attendees with questions about the Open Subsurface Data Universe Forum, and about the emerging standard.

The Open Group Dublin 2019 – Event Highlights

The Open Group hosted its latest event in Croke Park in the vibrant city of Dublin, April 29 – May 2, welcoming attendees that included decision-makers, Enterprise Architects, engineers, technologists and end-users representing many businesses and governments. The theme of this event and a topic which ran through many of the speaker sessions was ‘Digital in Practice’, covering not only the emerging digital technologies but also the standards, architectures and business frameworks that support and enable the transition to, and implementation of, the modern Digital Enterprise.

TOGAF® CERTIFICATION CONTINUES ITS GROWTH GLOBALLY, EXPANDING INTO NEW MARKETS

The number of individuals certified in the TOGAF® Certification Program as of April 2019 has reached almost 88,000, with certified individuals from 144 countries. This represents approximately 10,000 new certifications in the past twelve-month period since the latest TOGAF Standard, Version 9.2 was introduced, and certifications in five additional countries.

The Open Group to Hold Upcoming Event in Dublin

The Open Group, the vendor-neutral technology standards consortium, is hosting its upcoming event in Dublin, April 29 – May 2, 2019. The Open Group Dublin 2019 will bring together vendors and end-user organizations to discuss digital in practice and the Digital Enterprise. The event will host attendees from throughout the globe, including decision-makers, Enterprise Architects, engineers, technologists and end-users representing many businesses and governments.

Service Brokering and an Enterprise Standard – Build your Competitive Advantage in the Digital World

Over the last ten years I have focused on cloud computing and seen increased adoption of cloud in enterprises. Companies large and small have adopted Software as a Service (SaaS) and traditional private/public PaaS/IaaS cloud services to expand their digital footprint. In doing so they depend increasingly on an ever-larger supplier community to obtain the digital support required to run their business.