IT & Enterprise Architecture Conference 2015 - Day 1

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Today I attended the first day of the IT & Enterprise Architecture Conference 2015 at the Crowne Plaza in Auckland. This was my first time at the event and it was a good opportunity to network with the wider IT & Enterprise Architecture community. Below is a summary of my key notes.

Setting the scene: Enterprise Architecture 2015-2025
Craig Pitout, Senior Manager IT Advisory, EY (@CraigPitout)
  • Cloud, Mobility, Big Data and Social Media are key forces of Digital Disruption
  • Themes affecting enterprise agility
    • Customer centric
    • Product centric
    • Internal efficiency
    • Regulatory requirements
  • Force for uniqueness vs Force for commonality
  • Quantifying the impact
    • Innovation impact vs Value potential
      • Disruptive - disrupt the core
      • Adjacent - change and expand
      • Sustaining - incremental improvements
  • EY Business Reference Model - Agile (http://www.ey.com/GL/en/Services/Advisory/EY-translate-strategy-into-execution)

  • Agile behaviours
    • Responsiveness to change
    • Value-driven
    • Practical experimentation
    • Empowered, self-managing teams
    • Customer communication and collaboration
    • Continuous improvement
    • Respect for people
  • W123 - World-Class EA: The Agile Enterprise (http://www2.opengroup.org/ogsys/catalog/W123)
  • The six qualities of business architecture
    • Stakeholder experience
    • Risk
    • Alignment
    • Efficiency
    • Agility
    • Business Achievability
  • W146 - World-Class EA: Business Reference Model (http://www2.opengroup.org/ogsys/catalog/W146)
  • Moving forward
    • Become a digital practice
    • Build a business architecture capability
    • Establish agility goals
  • In addition to To Do list build a To Don’t list

Facilitating system transformation across the Public Sector
Regine Deleu, All-of-Government Enterprise Architect, The Department of Internal Affairs (@rdeleu)

  • Five Business Areas
    • New Zealand Society
    • Individuals and Communities
    • Businesses
    • Civic Infrastrcture
    • Government 
  • Data and Information
    • Motivators
      • Plans
      • Controls
      • Contracts
    • Entities
      • Parties
      • Places
      • Items
    • Activities
      • Cases
      • Events
      • Services
  • Nine Application and ICT Services Domains
    • Corporate Application
    • Common Line of Business Applications
    • Specialist Line of Business Applications
    • End User Computing
    • Identity and Access Management Services
    • Security Services
    • Data and Information Management Services
    • ICT Components, Services and Tools
    • Interfaces and Integration
  • Four Infrastructure Domains
    • Platform
    • Network
    • End User Equipment
    • Facility
  • Structure and Artefacts

  • Accelerate Delivery Methodology (ADM)


CIO perspective: Leveraging the value of EA
Mike Clarke, CIO, SKYCITY Entertainment Group
  • Proactively engage with business leaders on new ideas and enhancements
  • Conversations distill into four pillars
    • Digital Transformation
    • Business Alignment & Direction
    • IT Structure and Cost
    • Security
  • Business strategy has an IT delivery mechanism (c.f. IT strategy and delivery aligned to business strategy)
  • "Cloud computing is not a technical construct, it is a commercial construct"
  • Delivering value
    • Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?
    • Pragmatic
      • Sufficient documentation, sufficient governance, sufficient testing
    • Meets business need / solves the business problem
    • Accelerates time to business value
    • Makes the solution easier to support
    • Makes the solution easier to expand
  • Data is a key enabler to make decisions and drive change
  • Attitude, Skill & Knowledge (ASK) is key
  • Pragmatic approach
    • Avoid an academic approach
    • Purpose before action
    • When / where required
    • Focus on business value - investment needs to match the value
    • Focus on improving IT delivery
  • Right people in the right roles
  • Debunking the SaaS myth - i.e. this is not an excuse for not having governance
  • Relationships are key
  • Be as transparent as possible
  • Recruit IT people with a business focus

Value creation. Winning the challenge in small-medium organisations
Angus Wall, Enterprise Architect, Unison Networks
  • Storytelling is super important
  • Where do you invest money? EA is between strategy and system implementation
  • Get involved in the business planning. Move away from strategy being done to us and being part of the process (partnership model).
  • Business Disruption —> Target Business Outcome and Measure —> Architecture Strategy
    • Align architecture strategy to business outcomes
  • Assessing Business Impact
    • Network & Operations
    • Contracting
    • Procurement & Logistics
    • Commercial
    • Finance
    • HR
  • Roadmap done for each domain, then aggregated
  • Business Capability Model (kept at a high level)
    • Manage Risk
    • Sell Unison Products
    • Operate Business
    • Marketing & Communications
    • Operate Network
    • Procurement & Logistics
    • Build & Maintain Network
  • Make sure collateral is published and business focussed

Panel Discussion: EA for management utilisation. Are we on the same page?
Angus Wall, Enterprise Architect, Unison Networks
Michael Tapp, Principal Architect, Cyma (@MichaelTapp2)
Keith Delle Donne, Associate Director, PWC
Martyn Bowis, Enterprise Architect and TOGAF Trainer, Architecting the Enterprise
  • Communication and Relationships is key, understand their motivations
  • Get out of your business unit and engage wider across the organisation
  • Work with the business to assist them with their strategy
  • Be involved in the construction of the Business Plan
  • Have a Business Capability Model and use this as a key discussion vehicle
  • Super-impose a story over a picture the business is familiar with
  • Minimum viable architecture
  • You don’t want headless chicken agile, have guided agile
  • Use industry models (helps with using the same language)
  • You can teach skills, you can’t really teach attitude
  • EA needs to cover with both strategic and tactical initiatives
  • Principles guide decision making
  • Share your vision
  • Set expectations early on (particularly re bad news)
  • Come with solutions, not problems

Masterclass: Bridging the communication gap
Rachael Cotton-Bronte, Director, FLINT-box (@Rachael_CBronte)
  • Communication is the art of being understood
  • "The problem with communication... is the illusion that it has been accomplished” George Bernhard Shaw
  • We live in a time of unprecedented change
  • Diversity is the norm
  • Communication networks are increasingly complex
  • From command & control to power & enablement
  • Communication is essential to organisational success
  • Communication is the key to building trust, promoting understanding, empowering and motivating others
  • Words are like smashed eggs, once they go they go
  • Plan your Message
    • What are the key messages?
    • Why is the message important?
    • What are the possible objections?
    • How will I address any objections?
  • Avoid jargon
  • Don’t make assumptions about levels of knowledge
  • Communicate same message through multiple channels
    • different people prefer to absorb information in different ways
    • Paper, Audio, Video, Phone, Whiteboard
  • Keep content below 111 words
  • "Nothing I say this day is going to teach me anything. So if I’m going to learn I must do it by listening” Larry King
  • Components of communication
    • Physiology 55%
    • Voice tones 38%
    • Words 7%
  • It’s what you don’t say that counts
  • Listen actively
    • Body Language
    • Explore
      • Question Open
    • Reflection
      • Clarify summarisation
  • Understand your audience
    • Think, See, Feel, Do
  • Putting it together
    • 1. Key message
    • 2. Telling the story
    • 3. Layering information
    • 4. Test & Evaluate
  • Talk about the elephants in the room (e.g. risks). Manage expectations.
  • What do different people want?
    • CIO
      • Stability
      • Cost of IT
    • CMO
      • Customer experience
    • CEO
      • ROI
      • Stakeholder complexity
    • CFO
      • Where is most of the money going?
      • Risk
  • How do you measure success? What are your business metrics?
  • Project Managers at e-bay - 50% are INTJ
  • People characteristics
    • Conscientious
    • Dominance
    • Steady
    • Influence
  • 10:20:30 rule for pitching from Guy Kawasaki
    • 10 Slides
    • 20 minutes
    • 30pt font is smallest that should be used

Would you hire yourself? The must-have skillset for proficient Architects
Paulo Rocha, Enterprise Architect, Watercare Services Limited
  • EAs usually come from a variety of different paths; often from IT though and this impacts the perception of EA.
  • Penn State University now has a degree for Enterprise Architecture (http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/degrees-and-certificates/enterprise-architecture-masters/overview), nothing yet in NZ
  • “World Class Enterprise Architecture” framework from the open group is about the “What” http://www.opengroup.org/india2011/presentations/Global%20Trends%20-%20Multinational%20Arch%20Deployments.pdf
  • EA competency model has 7 core areas. Different roles (e.g. Designer vs Business Architect) require different aspects of this:
    • Analytical Thinking
      • Strategic Thinking
      • Problem Solving
      • Systems Thinking
      • Creative Thinking
      • Critical Thinking
    • Architecture
      • Design
      • Information Analysis
      • Modelling
      • Process Improvement
      • Roadmap Development
      • Scenario Building
      • Standards Development
      • Systems Development
      • System Integration
    • Interpersonal skills
      • Conflict Resolution
      • Emotional Intelligence
      • Influence
      • Integrity
      • Negotiation
      • Political Savvy
      • Relationship Bulding
    • Communication
      • Elicitation
      • Facilitation
      • Oral Presentations
      • Written Communication
    • Finance
      • Cost Benefit Analysis
      • Budgeting
    • Management
      • Asset Portfolio Management
      • Coaching and Mentoring
      • Decision Making
      • Industry Regulation & Compliance
      • Information Management
      • Lifestyle Management
      • Rick Management
      • Project Management
      • Performance Management
    • Leadership
      • Cyber & Information Security
      • Emerging Technology Monitoring
      • Enterprise Change Management
      • Information Assurance
      • Inspirational Direction
      • Policy and Governance
      • Project Portfolio Management
      • Strategic Planning
      • System Quality Assurance
      • Technology Governance
  • Need to also consider experience in addition to skills i.e. leverage lessons learnt through experience

Quick fire session: Where should an EA sit in the corporate organisation?
Paulo Rocha, Enterprise Architect, Watercare Services Limited
Michael Tapp, Principal Architect, Cyma (@MichaelTapp2)
Abhishek Anupuri, Senior Analyst, PWC
Martyn Bowis, Enterprise Architect and TOGAF Trainer, Architecting the Enterprise
  • It is more important about where you can impact change as opposed to where you are in an organisational hierarchy
  • Leadership is about influence rather than a particular title
  • Outcome is more important than output and process
  • With too much process you kill the art

Summary of my key takeaways

  • Continue to embrace agile behaviours (Responsiveness to change; Value-driven; Practical experimentation; Empowered, self-managing teams; Customer communication and collaboration; Continuous improvement; Respect for people)
  • The six qualities of business architecture would be useful for rapidly assessing the impact of an initiative (Stakeholder experience; Risk; Alignment; Efficiency; Agility; Business Achievability)
  • GEA-NZ has some good information publicly available that is worth checking out for evolving an EA
  • Sufficient documentation, sufficient governance, sufficient testing
  • When recruiting in IT, recruit people with a business focus
  • Get involved in the business planning. Move away from strategy being done to you and be part of the process (partnership model).
  • Align architecture strategy to business outcomes
  • Use Business Capability Model to show at a high level where work is occurring
  • Make sure collateral is published and business focussed
  • Communicate same message through multiple channels
  • Physiology is 55% of communication, voice tones 38%, words 7%
  • The EA competency model could be useful for recruitment and working out areas to grow in

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