Has business architecture matured enough to allow software vendors to develop tools specifically geared towards business architecture? I have seen a lot of vendors trying to take old tools and call them business architecture tools, but none that have built something that is just for us. I was in a meeting where IBM was trying to tell us that System Architect is THE tool for business architecture.
check us out at http://www.bizarchcommunity.com/
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
wikipedia definition of business architecture
What the heck is going on with wikipedia? (ok I know, it was a rhetorical question) The defintion of Business Architecture changes all the time. It went from a defintion that was pretty consistent with what many in the industry think, to a bunch of stuff you would expect from IT Architects or IT guys in the Enterprise Architecture space. As long as Business Architecture is seen and explained through the lense of technology, it will struggle to succeed.
To further complicate the issue, software vendors like IBM are trying to fit a defintion that fits into their tool suite. I was in a presentation with some IBM folks and what I saw as the words Business Architecture used over and over again as the IBM guy was showing network diagrams, data models and UML models and calling them business architecture diagrams/blueprints. Needless to say, I almost choked.
To further complicate the issue, software vendors like IBM are trying to fit a defintion that fits into their tool suite. I was in a presentation with some IBM folks and what I saw as the words Business Architecture used over and over again as the IBM guy was showing network diagrams, data models and UML models and calling them business architecture diagrams/blueprints. Needless to say, I almost choked.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Current State of Business Architecture March 2007
Do a Google search for "Business Architecture." You will get thousands of hits. When you really start looking through the results, you will see that there are very little, if any, sites dedicated solely to business architecture. It is referenced by IBM, Apple, Microsoft, the Open Group, etc, but it is just that a reference, in many cases organizations trying to catch the wave of the latest buzz words and attaching it to their products, services, or frameworks.
If you would have looked for a job titled Business Architect 18-24 months ago, you would have been very hard pressed to find one and the ones that did exist were very IT/solution development focused. Today the role, as well as business architecture in general, is growing rapidly. Industries such as insurance, financial services and the government appear to be the leaders in practicing business architecture. You will find roles at all levels of the organization from a Chief Business Architect - aligned at the C-level of an organization to Junior Business Architect focusing on low level modeling techniques.
As a result, we have created BizArchCommunity.com. BizArchCommunity.com is meant to be a place for Business Architects to be educated, educate others, share information, and most importantly communicate with other Business Architects.
If you would have looked for a job titled Business Architect 18-24 months ago, you would have been very hard pressed to find one and the ones that did exist were very IT/solution development focused. Today the role, as well as business architecture in general, is growing rapidly. Industries such as insurance, financial services and the government appear to be the leaders in practicing business architecture. You will find roles at all levels of the organization from a Chief Business Architect - aligned at the C-level of an organization to Junior Business Architect focusing on low level modeling techniques.
As a result, we have created BizArchCommunity.com. BizArchCommunity.com is meant to be a place for Business Architects to be educated, educate others, share information, and most importantly communicate with other Business Architects.
Brainstorm Conference Chicago
This week was the Brainstorm Group's Business Architecture, BPM, SOA conference in Chicago. It's a 2-day conference that offered three primary tracks and combined keynote speakers.
As a business architect, it was interesting to hear the positioning by each speaker on their specific topic. While some referenced business architecture, others did not. Although most of the speakers had valuable experiences and perspectives to share, I would not have wanted to be a business architecture "beginner" at this conference.
Many of the messages were very confusing from a business architect's perspective. For instance, I heard one speaker say that, "it's all about rules," and that, "soon there will be no such things as requirements."
The next speaker stated that, "the most important thing is use case, and if you don't do them right you will fail as an organization."
Yet another speaker then stated that, "the most important thing is process. If you are not a process-centric organization, you will fail."
So, which is it? What is most important?
My answer is Business Architecture. Use cases, rules and processes are important, but none of these provide a complete picture by themselves. As a business architect, it is critical to understand how all these elements fit together, along with requirements (from a business person's point of view, not a systems view), business roles, business information, strategy and roadmaps. If your organization does not take this holistic approach to understanding who they are and what they do, and instead focuses on a narrow view, short-term fixes will result and the problems they are trying to solve today will eventually re-surface in the future, but this time from a new perspective.
Of the speakers I saw, my favorite speakers were the lady from Coors (not just because she represents beer) and William Ulrich. On the other side, the opening keynote speaker was full of theory and from a business architects perspective I did not agree with his positions, plus he had a costume on! The same guy at the New York conference in November got into a verbal confrontation with a panel member during one of the panel discussions. It got to a point that even being in the audience as I was, it became uncomfortable.
In general, I would recommend the Brainstorm Conference, but understand what it is - 3 separate conferences all presenting solutions to the same types of problems. Just like why BizArchCommunity.com was created, I could not find a single website dedicated to Business Architecture, I am still looking for that conference that is dedicated to and focused on Business Architecture. Maybe next year we host our own event.
As a business architect, it was interesting to hear the positioning by each speaker on their specific topic. While some referenced business architecture, others did not. Although most of the speakers had valuable experiences and perspectives to share, I would not have wanted to be a business architecture "beginner" at this conference.
Many of the messages were very confusing from a business architect's perspective. For instance, I heard one speaker say that, "it's all about rules," and that, "soon there will be no such things as requirements."
The next speaker stated that, "the most important thing is use case, and if you don't do them right you will fail as an organization."
Yet another speaker then stated that, "the most important thing is process. If you are not a process-centric organization, you will fail."
So, which is it? What is most important?
My answer is Business Architecture. Use cases, rules and processes are important, but none of these provide a complete picture by themselves. As a business architect, it is critical to understand how all these elements fit together, along with requirements (from a business person's point of view, not a systems view), business roles, business information, strategy and roadmaps. If your organization does not take this holistic approach to understanding who they are and what they do, and instead focuses on a narrow view, short-term fixes will result and the problems they are trying to solve today will eventually re-surface in the future, but this time from a new perspective.
Of the speakers I saw, my favorite speakers were the lady from Coors (not just because she represents beer) and William Ulrich. On the other side, the opening keynote speaker was full of theory and from a business architects perspective I did not agree with his positions, plus he had a costume on! The same guy at the New York conference in November got into a verbal confrontation with a panel member during one of the panel discussions. It got to a point that even being in the audience as I was, it became uncomfortable.
In general, I would recommend the Brainstorm Conference, but understand what it is - 3 separate conferences all presenting solutions to the same types of problems. Just like why BizArchCommunity.com was created, I could not find a single website dedicated to Business Architecture, I am still looking for that conference that is dedicated to and focused on Business Architecture. Maybe next year we host our own event.
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