seeking to control enterprise with architecture
TRANSCRIPT
Seeking to controlEnterprise with
Architecturethe limits and value of an engineering
approachfrom the perspective of an Enterprise
Architect
Family father
Married to a lovely wifewho got me into sailing and
with whom I have two fantastic kids,a small sailing boat and a house in
Jyllinge.
Head of
Domain ArchitectureNordea | Digital Banking
25+ years of experience in the fields ofSoftware Engineering and
Enterprise Architecture
Doctoral (PhD) Researcher at University of Hertfordshire
Conducting an exploratory reflective narrative research project into my practice,my habitual ways of thinking about my practice,
and implications of taking experience seriously and re-evaluating my taken-for-granted assumptions.
Mikkel Haugsted Brahm
Preliminary findings from my PhD• Human conduct and how we organize what we do
together
• Differences between humanity and materiality
• An all-encompassing theory of Enterprise Architecture?
Human conduct – the game
Little league vs. pro players
Public vs. hidden transcript
Idealisation – Functionalisation
Nordea
Easy to deal with ...... relevant and competent ...... anywhere and anytime ...... where the personal and digital relationshipmakes Nordea my safe and trusted partner
A real introduction: Douglas Griffin (2002). The Emergence of Leadership. Linking self-organization and ethics.
Gesture and Response
Function & Interdependence
Enabled and Constrained
Causality in social interactions
DeterminacyA given stimuli (always) leads to a given response(Watson, 1913, Psychology as the behaviorist views it)
Social behaviourismWe mutually adjust to what we take to be acceptable behaviour(Mead, 1934, Mind, Self, & Society)
Awkward
Transformative causalityNorms (opposite of awkward), Values (often taken-for-granted)
People form norms and valuesNorms and values form people
Norbert Elias (1991): There is no I-identity without we-identity.
Meaning emerges
Acting into that which is becoming
Thought ActionCausality
Analysis ExecutionDesign
ThoughtAction
Understanding
SCRUM
Lean
Predictability - RepeatabilityBy acting into an emerging figuration
we learn something about itwhich we cannot know before we act
Stability is in real life not like a re-run on TV,but repetitive re-iteration of a recognizable pattern
Patterns are often recognizable - but not repeatable
A real introduction: Ralph Stacey (2012). Tools and Techniques of Leadership and Management.
This is not a…
Figuration
Position
René Magritte
PowerWe must cease once and for all to describe the effects of power in negative terms:it ‘excludes’, it ‘represses’, it ‘censors’, it ‘abstracts’, it ‘masks’, it ‘conceals’.In fact power produces; it produces reality; it produces domains of objects and rituals of truth. The individual and the knowledge that may be gained of him belong to this production.Michel Foucault (1991:194). Discipline and Punish.
Operating Profit 449 284 288 175Q3 2016 €m -48
Journey Map: 3 meter long posters becomes a focal point
as we struggle to fit everything into one simplified model
Some theoretical concepts in practice• Business Architecture• Processes and Capabilities
• Information Architecture• Entities and Relationships
• Application Architecture• Applications and
Integrations• Technical Architecture• Platforms and Networks
Complicated, but not complex
• Business = Profitable exchange• Process context is
emergent• Data often has poor
quality• Good integration = poor
agility• No integration = not
efficient• Technical debt emerges• Many agendas and
alliances
Complex, not just complicated
Humanity and materialityResponsive People• Can act spontaneously
but often acts habitually• A particular response
cannot be pre-determined• Figuration is always in
flux• We always make ethical
judgment in situ when acting
Mechanical Mechanisms• Can only act out a repertoire
of transcribed scripted action• All responses can be
predicted• Stable configuration
(until we change it)• All judgments are pre-
determined by programmers
Assumptions underlyingOrthodox Enterprise Architecture• An organisation is in a (stable) state until we apply
power• Knowledge is a trait of the organisation or at least
freely available• The organisation as an entity has legitimate
intentionality• Individual members of an organisation have
illegitimate intentions• Managers can control the realisation of a desired state• If we loose control, we will have chaos and waste
Example: The Open Group (2013). TOGAF® Version 9.1.
Assumptions underlyingComplex responsive processes• Organising is recognisable patterns of collaboration and
competition• We can only ever have partial knowledge• People with intentionality form figurations• Power is related to inter-dependence and is always in
flux• Managers cannot control the realisation of a desired
state• Without control we have socially enabled and
constrained conductTextbook: Ralph Stacey & Chris Mowles (2016). Strategic Management and Organisational Dynamics.
Enterprise• Intentional human activity conducted in a power figuration• Neither predictable, nor controllable, nor chaotic• Emergence of both intended and unintended is enabled
and constrained
Architecture• Mechanical mechanisms can perform some action efficiently• Determining which action to transcribe is a highly political choice• Enterprise Architects can contribute something useful to this game
Warranted assertability: Mikkel H. Brahm (2017). Seeking to control Enterprise with Architecture (provisional title).
Stacey, Ralph D & Mowles, Chris (2016).Strategic Management and Organisational Dynamics: The Challenge of Complexity. 7th ed.Pearson Education Limited.
Stacey, Ralph D (2012).Tools & Techniquesof Leadership and Management.Routledge.
Jackall, Robert (2010).Moral Mazes –The World of Corporate Managers.Oxford University Press.
Scott, John C (1990).Domination and the Arts of Resistance - Hidden transcripts.Yale University Press.
Elias, Norbert (1978).What is Sociology?Columbia University Press.
Elias, Norbert (1991).The Society of Individuals.Basil Blackwell.
Latour, Bruno (2005).Reassembling the Social –An introduction to Actor-Network-Theory.Oxford University Press.Mead, George Herbert (1934).Mind, Self, & Society.The University of Chicago Press.
Bourdieu, Pierre (1977)Outline of a Theory of Practice.Cambridge University Press
Scott, John C (1999).Seeing like a State.Yale University Press.
Key literature
Griffin, Douglas (2002).The Emergence of Leadership –
Linking self-organization and ethics.Routledge.
Gadamer, Hans-Georg (1975).Truth and Method.Bloomsbury Academic.
Fleck, Ludwik (1935/1979). Genesis and development of a scientific fact.University of Chicago Press.Foucault, Michel (1975/1977). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison.Pantheon Books.
Pickering, Andrew (1993).The Mangle of Practice.American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 99, No. 3, 559-589.
Contact details: [email protected] https://dk.linkedin.com/in/mbrahm @mikkelbrahm