Enterprise Architecture VS Business Architecture.
Around this time 12 months ago Gartner predicted that half of EA Business Architecture initiatives in 2018 would focus on defining and enabling Digital Platform Strategies. While there hasn’t been follow up research to prove whether this prediction has come true, anecdotal evidence would suggest that the real situation is pretty close.
On a recent Agile training course, the instructor opened the session by saying “Agile without a plan is just chaos!” I would like to propose that Agile without effective Architecture will eventually lead to chaos, particularly if organisations try to scale their Agile practices without some form of guiding framework.
My current, favourite question for Executives and Architects is “How do you see Architecture operating in an Agile environment.” This question usually elicits a wry smile and a response along the lines of “I will need to get back to you on that!” Many people are wondering how Architecture will fair in the world of Agile. My answer is I believe very well!
In my last article, I talked about some of the key aspects you must consider when defining a target operating model. In this follow up piece I have delved a little deeper and will look at how TOM initiatives can vary across different types of businesses; from large corporates to start-ups and government organisations.
Some of you might remember Peter Senge’s great piece of work on the Fifth Discipline. It was one of the published works that first introduced me to systems thinking. One of the key topics from this piece of work was around complexity and how to deal with it. Dealing with complexity requires a shift in your mental model. A move away from concrete analytical thinking that is quite linear in nature, to more intuitive and abstract thinking that is more multi-dimensional in nature.
Speaking from Amsterdam in the Netherlands, ING Bank’s former global Chief Technology Officer Andrew Henderson added “The FromHereOn team brought a fresh human-centred approach to ING Group, helping us design and deliver a new global technology organisation & service roadmap to support our banking network across 43 countries. Their mix of strategic design, innovative communication and technology execution expertise helped make our ambitious vision a reality.”
The brand change in Australia heralds the expansion of Enterprise Architect’s traditional clientele of ASX100 and government CIOs to the whole C-level, offering a human-centred design and strategic architecture capability to innovate and transform businesses with a focus on people and ability to design for whole-of-enterprise and multinational programs. It also brings together the two consulting teams to offer round-the-clock professional services with a global reach.
Of all the things you can voluntarily choose to do in life – there are three things that you would never do without serious justification. One is to move house – as in buy and sell and move your world and your family, another is to divorce your long-term partner – implications obvious, and the third is walk away from a fabulous brand (Enterprise Architects) that you’ve spent 14 years building into a globally recognised marque that stands for thought leadership and service excellence in your field.
Football, basketball and hockey are all popular team sports played around the world. All push the ‘team spirit’, play to win and watch the competition fiercely. They also have fans, enemies and investors watching and criticising their every move, pushing them to increase their performance at every single stage. To ensure they are achieving peak performance, the teams train hard day in and day out. They develop customised training programmes to enhance the unique skill sets of each individual, but understand that the overall performance derives from the individuals working together as a team. That’s why they implement and focus on team training, they ensure each member is working to the same framework, communicating on the same level and working together to achieve the same result. They understand that the combined effect is greater than the individual.
The same approach goes for businesses. While it’s important to nurture and enhance the unique skills of each individual, the greatest benefit will be seen when your team is trained as a whole. When they are working from the same framework, communicating on the same level and working together to achieve the same result.
The term Target Operating Model (or TOM) has been used a lot in many of the organisations that I have worked for all around the world over the years. Many 100s of millions of dollars in business change budget has been invested in these projects along with many 1000s of people, man hours and resources.
Having been involved in numerous initiatives, I’ve seen all manner of possible outcomes. Some have succeeded in delivering very beneficial outcomes for their organisations. Some have failed to deliver anything. There can be many reasons for this; they couldn’t raise the budget, they couldn’t get the buy-in needed from stakeholders, or they were based on the wrong motivations and outcomes to begin with. With this background in mind, I thought I’d share some insights from my experience around this discipline and try to answer to very important questions:
I will also describe how an organisation can really reap the benefits of a successful business transformation programme, or project, that is designed to deliver a Target Operating Model.
This week, EA Learning is proud to announce the latest course to be added to our expanded Architecture and Design training curriculum, Applied Operating Model Design. The course is authored by Julie Choo, an experienced Business Architecture practitioner and thought leader who has also delivered our Applied Business Architecture course over the years. Julie has been working on the course for a year or so as part of a book she is writing called the Strategy Journey which looks at the 5 keys stages of strategy development from defining a strategy to executing on that strategy.
