Search Results for: business model

On the Brink of Structure and Chaos: Framework Prescription and Real-World Flexibility

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An often returning discussion with my clients is the practical applicability, boundaries, and presumptions of enterprise architecture (EA) frameworks. Following a recent debate on LinkedIn, some EA practitioners suggest that dynamic systems models, such as Stafford Beer’s Viable Systems Model (VSM) (Beer, 1994) , should actually replace existing prescriptive framework practices. In my own thesis (Jensen, 2010), I furthermore discuss the options of integrating cybernetic and second order systemic models in enterprise architecture planning and management on the basis of a thorough analysis of Australian government EA and SOA practice.

However, in this debate, it is important not to frame systems thinking as the silver bullet, which can magically and immediately fix all problems of management practice, be it process management or government architecture planning. Systemic thinking in itself may, actually, be overly prescriptive through reductionist assertions of how organisations function, e.g. through the claim: “organisations are systems” as opposed to “organisations behave as systems in particular situations.” Assuming that the world consists of systems as an ontological pre-given only paves the way for yet another prescriptive theory.

I usually tell my clients that there are two key observations around healthy framework and methodology practice. This basically boils down to admitting the following two claims:
  1. Best practice frameworks and reference models provide a great starting point and rational structure for beginning an architecture endeavour. Obviously, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, and the frameworks provide a common language and conceptual platform for sharing ideas and implementing projects. Any good framework provides the tools, templates, and management structure for relatively quickly deploying the skeleton of an architecture practice. Prescription gives guidance, direction, and shared understanding of EA purpose and planning.
  2. However, prescription may also heavily limit the creativity and flexibility of rapid transformation projects. EA is often put in place in order to rapidly change the organisation for the better — or what Hjort-Madsen (2008) calls architecting for better outcomes. If the method is too inflexible or does not allow people to make shortcuts and rapid improvements for the better, it is a sign of too heavy prescription. Architecture turns into a handicap as opposed to providing a viable management reporting function. Architecture has transformed into a heavy-weight documentation exercise producing massive stacks of documents that nobody will ever return to again.
Good framework practice comes from finding the right balance between structure and flexibility. The framework must guide, direct, and support the architects at work so they can share and reuse where possible. On the other hand, the framework should promote and highlight the appropriate degree of managerial buffer in order to easily overcome problems and churn out creative solutions as opposed to locking down framework users by applying layers of managerial review and approval bureaucracy for the sake of (often unnecessary) traceability. As my thesis research indicates, an Australian state government agency chose to temporarily ignore their EA modelling and documentation framework whilst transitioning from current to future state.  Technological, political, and managerial changes occurred so often that the existing reference framework was simply too prescriptive. After reaching a point of reasonable stability in terms of business requirements and change in demand, it was then feasible to return to the structural stability and rigour of the framework.

My key message is therefore: be careful when implementing your architecture practice in your organisation. Your people need structure and guidance but also flexibility and buffer for overcoming changes rapidly in an elegant fashion.

Beer, S. (1994). Brain of the Firm (Classic Beer Series). Wiley.

Hjort-Madsen, K. (2009), Architecting Government: Understanding Enterprise Architecture

Adoption in the Public Sector, Phd doctorate.

On the Brink of Structure and Chaos: Framework Prescription and Real-World Flexibility

by
An often returning discussion with my clients is the practical applicability, boundaries, and presumptions of enterprise architecture (EA) frameworks. Following a recent debate on LinkedIn, some EA practitioners suggest that dynamic systems models, such as Stafford Beer’s Viable Systems Model (VSM) (Beer, 1994) , should actually replace existing prescriptive framework practices. In my own thesis (Jensen, 2010), I furthermore discuss the options of integrating cybernetic and second order systemic models in enterprise architecture planning and management on the basis of a thorough analysis of Australian government EA and SOA practice.

However, in this debate, it is important not to frame systems thinking as the silver bullet, which can magically and immediately fix all problems of management practice, be it process management or government architecture planning. Systemic thinking in itself may, actually, be overly prescriptive through reductionist assertions of how organisations function, e.g. through the claim: “organisations are systems” as opposed to “organisations behave as systems in particular situations.” Assuming that the world consists of systems as an ontological pre-given only paves the way for yet another prescriptive theory.

I usually tell my clients that there are two key observations around healthy framework and methodology practice. This basically boils down to admitting the following two claims:
  1. Best practice frameworks and reference models provide a great starting point and rational structure for beginning an architecture endeavour. Obviously, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, and the frameworks provide a common language and conceptual platform for sharing ideas and implementing projects. Any good framework provides the tools, templates, and management structure for relatively quickly deploying the skeleton of an architecture practice. Prescription gives guidance, direction, and shared understanding of EA purpose and planning.
  2. However, prescription may also heavily limit the creativity and flexibility of rapid transformation projects. EA is often put in place in order to rapidly change the organisation for the better — or what Hjort-Madsen (2008) calls architecting for better outcomes. If the method is too inflexible or does not allow people to make shortcuts and rapid improvements for the better, it is a sign of too heavy prescription. Architecture turns into a handicap as opposed to providing a viable management reporting function. Architecture has transformed into a heavy-weight documentation exercise producing massive stacks of documents that nobody will ever return to again.
Good framework practice comes from finding the right balance between structure and flexibility. The framework must guide, direct, and support the architects at work so they can share and reuse where possible. On the other hand, the framework should promote and highlight the appropriate degree of managerial buffer in order to easily overcome problems and churn out creative solutions as opposed to locking down framework users by applying layers of managerial review and approval bureaucracy for the sake of (often unnecessary) traceability. As my thesis research indicates, an Australian state government agency chose to temporarily ignore their EA modelling and documentation framework whilst transitioning from current to future state.  Technological, political, and managerial changes occurred so often that the existing reference framework was simply too prescriptive. After reaching a point of reasonable stability in terms of business requirements and change in demand, it was then feasible to return to the structural stability and rigour of the framework.

My key message is therefore: be careful when implementing your architecture practice in your organisation. Your people need structure and guidance but also flexibility and buffer for overcoming changes rapidly in an elegant fashion.

Beer, S. (1994). Brain of the Firm (Classic Beer Series). Wiley.

Hjort-Madsen, K. (2009), Architecting Government: Understanding Enterprise Architecture

Adoption in the Public Sector, Phd doctorate.

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Round in circles on enterprise-architecture

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One of the real pleasures of enterprise-architecture is that it covers the entire panoramic panoply of the enterprise, the many ways in which everyone and everything can work together towards a shared goal, creating a common bridge from Why to How to What and When and Where and Who.
One of its huge frustrations, though, is […]

Save the Date – Metastorm Global User Summit Coming Soon!

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Expand your universe! The 2011 Metastorm Global User Summit and Partner Symposium is taking place November 7-9th at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Virginia.  Regardless of where you are on the spectrum of enterprise architecture, business process analysis, and business process management, there is opportunity to innovate and extend your reach to drive further strategic […]

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Agility needs a backbone

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Something that’s been concerning me quite a bit over the past year or so in enterprise-architecture has been the over-obsession with agility: agility for its own sake, perhaps, without much thought behind it, much thought about why or how we need to be so agile.
No matter what it is, it seems – whether in IT-architectures, […]

Is Your Industry in a State of Flux?

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A week or so ago Metastorm presented a webinar on how to manage change in different industries.  The webinar explained how industry-specific capability models can accelerate the value of an organization’s transformation efforts. So what industries are most in need of a formal business transformation framework and platform?  When polled, respondents clearly emerged as having an immediate need […]

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There is no right to not-care

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For all the talk of supposed ‘rights’ to this-that-and-the-other, there is one ‘right’ that we do not, can not and must not have: the right to not care.
There is no right to not-care.
And yet so many aspects of our society and culture and everything else are built upon exactly that ‘right’. Everyone who drops a […]

The Road to Fast EA Results: Lessons from Troux Conference

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If day one of the Troux Worldwide Conference was about the need to drive short-term value from EA, day two was about how to get those fast results. The lessons came from Troux customers who have delivered millions of dollars worth in savings by buildi…

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Tweets from Troux 2011 conference: day 1

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Courtesy of a very active band of Tweeters – including Brenda Michelson, Todd Biske, Mike Walker and Aleks Buterman, we have a fairly comprehensive description of what’s been going on at the Troux users (enterprise-architecture) conference in Austin, Texas, on 23-24 March 2011.
I’ve edited slightly to remove most of the #Troux2011 and #entarch hash-tags; I’ve […]