Rhetorical Questions Archive

  • With a weak crop of developers and architects, I'm concerned we're growing a generation of bad IT managers, directors, VP's and CIO/CTOs. I'm afraid our next generation leadership will be more concerned with the acronyms after their names, with frameworks and methodologies, than with the actual work of IT. That is, with theory rather than delivery.

    Down in the Trough

    With a weak crop of developers and architects, I'm concerned we're growing a generation of bad IT managers, directors, VP's and CIO/CTOs. I'm afraid our next generation leadership will be more concerned with the acronyms after their names, with frameworks and methodologies, than with the actual work of IT. That is, with theory rather than delivery.

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  • EA, like the business and IT philosophies that underpin it, is constantly changing. If enterprise architecture is an architecture in which the system in question is the whole enterprise (including business processes, technologies, and information systems), then there will always be dynamism to it. These elements and components are under constant change.

    The Illusory Maturity of EA

    EA, like the business and IT philosophies that underpin it, is constantly changing. If enterprise architecture is an architecture in which the system in question is the whole enterprise (including business processes, technologies, and information systems), then there will always be dynamism to it. These elements and components are under constant change.

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  • If our enterprises operated like The Wiggles, we would all know the what's, the when's, the who's and the why's. If our systems and processes were as predictable as a children's television program, we would know the how's. How smoothly things would run if we all understood how to get predictable results from repeatable actions we all knew in advance?

    The Wiggles and Enterprise Architecture

    If our enterprises operated like The Wiggles, we would all know the what's, the when's, the who's and the why's. If our systems and processes were as predictable as a children's television program, we would know the how's. How smoothly things would run if we all understood how to get predictable results from repeatable actions we all knew in advance?

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  • Frankly there is no way for IT to devise an IT solution if the business doesn't know what they do, how they do it, or what they want to do in the future (i.e. the capabilities they want enabled). If those things are in place, the technology part can be incredibly easy.

    The Business & BPM

    Frankly there is no way for IT to devise an IT solution if the business doesn't know what they do, how they do it, or what they want to do in the future (i.e. the capabilities they want enabled). If those things are in place, the technology part can be incredibly easy.

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  • The best technical solution is useless if it can't be communicated by its creator or effectively championed in the face of opposition. Architecture places a premium on the ability to effectively analyze, design and communicate the architecture to those who would actually build it. Sadly too many in our profession have the title of architect while lacking this essential ingredient.

    The Right Stuff

    The best technical solution is useless if it can't be communicated by its creator or effectively championed in the face of opposition. Architecture places a premium on the ability to effectively analyze, design and communicate the architecture to those who would actually build it. Sadly too many in our profession have the title of architect while lacking this essential ingredient.

    Continue Reading...