Perception is nine tenths the truth

My work colleagues who know me also know that this is one of my favorite personally made up sayings - it is something I coined many (many) years ago in my first presales job when I realised that the truth wasn't really always the winning way - perception was almost always the way.

So, I'm sharing this made up phrase with you all and encourage you to use it and discover what it means in your activity within and without the business world because it sure has opened up some interesting coversations for me over the years.

What is Enterprise Architecture?

“Components given form and function” – Matt Smith

Enterprise architecture is a powerful pairing of words used to describe an organisation wide framework that incorporates all aspects of four key areas of responsibility for architecture - the image below is (c) Copyright 2010-2011 Matthew Smith.

 

Architecture as a discipline requires the reduction of complexity through abstraction and separation of concerns – when applied to an enterprise this separation of concerns becomes necessarily entwined with the notion of complex systems – or combined systems. As a physicist by training I often equate this combined system view with Newton’s Third Law.

This law in physics states:

“Actioni contrariam semper et æqualem esse reactionem: sive corporum duorum actiones in se mutuo semper esse æquales et in partes contrarias dirigi. ”

In English:

“To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction: or the forces of two bodies on each other are always equal and are directed in opposite directions.”

Although often misunderstood, the ideas behind this law can be morphed and used as a basis to understand the fundamental requirements of an enterprise architecture – that of the anticipation and management of combined effects. Put simply, I change something in business service (A) – what are the knock-on impacts of this change to all the other services in my enterprise? The concept of action and reaction in physics gives rise to my own personal first law of enterprise architecture:

EA LAW I: Every change must assume to cause an impact or change in another part of the architecture unless proved otherwise – this is my personal first law of enterprise architecture.

Enterprise Architecture considers one vital aspect that separates it from the pursuit of simpler Segment or Solution level architecture – that of “knock on impact” – particularly related to the interplay between the four areas of concern mentioned above and all the stakeholders across the organisation. In fact, true EA includes the eco-system of organisations that are bringing to bear the Business/Organisation’s Goal.

The core of this interplay (see law 1) between Process, Service, Operation and Information necessarily bridges the traditional boundaries of Business and Information Technology and should form the back-bone of any Enterprise Architects role. It should also be noted that Enterprise Architecture includes the sub-disciplines of Segment Architecture and Solution Architecture and the detail required cannot and must not be ignored.

Figure 2 - Federal Enterprise Architecture Program Management Office, OMB
  - Architecture Guidance Document

To truly understand Enterprise Architecture, one must fully realise that you are dealing with a complex system (from the mathematical definition).  A complex system is composed of interconnected parts that as a whole exhibit an emergent behaviour not obvious from the properties of the individual parts - the business impact of these behaviours can be dramatic and costly.

Be careful what news stories you comment on - you might end up on BBC News!

So, the other day was a great bit of fun for me.

I was eating lunch (at my PC, I know - yuck!) and reading a business story on the BBC web pages. It was a good story and being a bit of a Web contributer, I decided to post a comment on the story. Well, 10 minutes later and a member of BBC staff was on the phone to me - "we liked your comment - would you be willing to talk to a reporter?"

"Sure", I said - I mean, the company I work for has put me through media training!

30 minutes after that and a reporter calls me, turns out she wasn't a reporter, rather the business editor of the BBC Breakfast show. We had a nice chat, and she said that "I was very clearly spoken and would I be willing to say my comment on camera?"

"err, sure" I said - I mean, I'm sure that it was very good media training...

"Ok, they will be with you in an hour", she said.

Wow, just like that - a bit less than an hour later and a film crew turned up at my house (thanks for letting me pop home boss!)

A fun experience having the BBC film in my house for 40 seconds of fame:

The really fun thing is that as I was watching this the next morning, some of my friends started te xting me - my favorite was from a friend over in IBM (hiss) - "Ruddy heck, you are on the BBC!"

So, turns out contributing to the internet community can start a chain of events that ends up with you on national TV!

Matt