Where do people fitwithin enterprise-architecture?

Tom Graves, Tetradian ConsultingBAEA Architect-Café, Heverlee, September 2013

the futures of business

Hi.

(yeah, I’m that guy.)

(that’s the PR done, now let’s get straight to it?)

How many people herework for an enterprise

that consists only ofinformation?

Question…

If you answered‘I do!’

you’ve just cancelledyour own job…

(a gentle hint…)

If there’s more to an enterprisethan only information…

then why does anyone assumethat enterprise-architecture

is only about IT?

In which case…

Hmm…

CC-BY-ND-SA ores2k via Flickr

…need to think about this one…

CC-BY-ND alexsemenzato via Flickr

…or, in this case,right at the bottom…

Let’s start this again,right from the top…

Yes, this is EA…(well, part of it, anyway…)

CC-BY-SA MysteryBee via Flickr

…and yes, IT-infrastructure is where current EA started

(back with frameworks like TOGAF versions 1-7)

CC-BY-SA MysteryBee via Flickr

Yet to understand the IT-infrastructure(TOGAF versions 1-7)

we need to understand the applicationsand the data in those applications…

(TOGAF version 8)

CC-BY-SA MysteryBee via Flickr

…to understand the applications and data(TOGAF version 8)

we need to understand the business useand meaning of the data…

(TOGAF version 8.1)

CC-BY-SA MysteryBee via Flickr

…to understand the business use of data(TOGAF version 8.1)

we need to understand quite a bit moreabout the business itself…

(TOGAF version 9)

CC-BY-SA MysteryBee via Flickr

…and to understand the business(TOGAF version 9)

we need to understand the broader contextin which the business operates…

(TOGAF X, we hope?)

CC-BY-SA MysteryBee via Flickr

…because, in short,

everything in the enterprise

depends on everything else

(yes – even the IT)

CC-BY-SA MysteryBee via Flickr

…which gives us the real reasonfor enterprise-architecture:

things work betterwhen they work together,

on purpose.

(A lot simpler and more straightforwardthan most definitions for EA…)

…what is

enterprise?

Yet to understandenterprise-architecture,

we also need to ask…

…enterprise is…

In classical economics…

…“the animal-spirits of the entrepreneur”

CC-BY-ND archaeon via Flickr

…it’s about people,doing things, together…

CC-BY-SA Nationalmuseet via Flickr

…but where are the peoplein this business-story?

CC-BY-SA MysteryBee via Flickr

Zachman has a ‘Who’ column…

CC-BY-NC-SA knnkanda via Flickr

…but it’s mainly about ‘users’…

…who somehow seem to look like this.

CC-BY justin pickard via Flickr

TOGAF does talk about…

Graphic: © The Open Group

…but again,people here are mostly described as ‘users’…

RequirementsManagement

G.Governance

and Compliance

E.Opportunities

andSolutions

C.Develop

Data / Apps Architecture

A.ArchitectureScope and Purpose

Preliminary:Framework,

Principles and Core Content

H.Architecture

Change Management

B.Develop

Business Architecture

D.Develop

TechnologyArchitecture

F.Migration Planning

‘Business Architecture’…

…who somehow seem to look like this.

CC-BY justin pickard via Flickr

In Business Model Canvas…

CC-BY Alex Osterwalder / Alan Smith et al

…we do have ‘Customer Segments’…

…who can even look like real people…

CC-BY Fretro via Flickr

…but inside the organisation…

CC-BY Alex Osterwalder / Alan Smith et al

…in ‘Key Activities’ and ‘Key Resources’…

…we’re back to ‘users’ again…

CC-BY justin pickard via Flickr

…at best, possibly-human…

CC-BY Vlima.com via Flickr

…or maybe not…

CC-BY aleutia via Flickr

In any case, a lot more like this…

CC-BY justin pickard via Flickr

…than like this.CC-BY andré luís via Flickr

So how come it’s so differentto outside

when they’re often the same people?

from inside

Hmm…

CC-BY-ND-SA ores2k via Flickr

…gonna hafta think about this one…

CC-BY-ND alexsemenzato via Flickr

How does your enterprise engage with its people

- its employees?

(in other words, you!)

An EA challenge…

1. As-is

2. Drivers

3. To-be

4. Roadmap

Let’s do thisas an everyday-EA exercise:

“What’s the story?”Step 1: As-is

Step 1: As-is

What name for the ‘people-service’?

What does it do?(people, process, technology)

What is its structure?(what, how, where, who, when, why)

Create a sketch-diagram of this service and its structures, content and actions

“What’s the story?”Step 2: Drivers

…or, why do we need people, anyway?

A question of skill…

A question of skill

SCRIPTED(simple rules and checklists)

TRAINEE / machine-automation

CC-BY The-Vikkodamus via Flickr CC-BY-SA seeminglee via Flickr

IMPROVISED(guidelines and principles)

MASTER (can’t automate)

ANALYSED(complicated algorithms)

APPRENTICE / IT-analysis

ADAPTED(complex patterns)

JOURNEYMAN / pattern-IT

“Let’s do a quick SCAN of this…”

Making sense of skills

“Insanityis doingthe same thingand expectingdifferent results”

(Albert Einstein)

ORDER(IT-type rules do work here)

Take control! Impose order!

“Insanityis doingthe same thingand expectingdifferent results”

(Albert Einstein)

“Insanityis doingthe same thingand expectingthe same results”

(not Albert Einstein)

ORDER(IT-type rules do work here)

UNORDER(IT-type rules don’t work here)

Order and unorder

A quest for certainty: analysis, algorithms, identicality, efficiency, business-rule engines, executable models, Six Sigma...

SAMENESS(IT-systems do work

well here)

UNIQUENESS(IT-systems don’t work

well here)

Same and different

An acceptance of uncertainty: experiment, patterns, probabilities, ‘design-thinking’, unstructured process...

THEORY

What we plan to do, in the expected conditions

What we actually do, in the actual conditions

PRACTICE

Theory and practice

Why we need skills

order unorder

fail-safe(high-dependency)

safe-fail(low-dependency)

plan

actual

Waterfall(‘controlled’ change)

Agile(iterative change)

analysis(knowable result)

experiment(unknowable result)

Machines and people

order(rules do work here)

unorder(rules don’t work here)

fail-safe(high-dependency)

safe-fail(low-dependency)

analysis(knowable result)

experiment(unknowable result)

MACHINES PEOPLE

Waterfall(‘controlled’ change)

Agile(iterative change)

Why skills are needed…

What is always going to beuncertain or unique?

(‘Messy’ – politics, management, wicked-problems, ‘should’ vs ‘is’, etc.)

What will always be ‘messy’?

Wherever these occur,you’re going to need human skill…

algorithm guideline

rule principle

We can’t manage uncertainty or uniqueness without real people making human judgements

Why we need people

…why would anyonewant to be involvedin this enterprise?

Motivations…

CC-BY quaziefoto via Flickr

“Money makes the world go round”?

Research: money-alone only motivates for ‘robotic’-type (non-skilled) work…

CC-BY justin pickard via Flickr

…for skilled-work, relying on money alone as a motivatorcan often make things worse. CC-BY andré luís via Flickr

To motivate skills-work…What research shows will work, for individuals:

• Autonomy (decision-making at the point of action)

• Mastery (development of personal skill)

• Purpose (guidelines to assess personal achievement)

(Note: in Taylorism, all of the above are explicitly blocked or forbidden)

…and at the collective level:

• Fairness (socially-determined)

• Shared-purpose (vision/values etc ‘greater than self’)

…whose story is this, really?

- who can have impact on the enterprise?

- what could their impacts be?(direct, or indirect?)

Stakeholders…

“An organisation is bounded byrules, roles and responsibilities;

an enterprise is bounded byvision, values and commitments.”

Tom Graves, Mapping the Enterprise, Tetradian, 2010

Whose enterprise?

Organisation aligns with structure, enterprise with story.We need a balance of both for the architecture to work.

A useful guideline: “The enterprise in scope

should be three steps largerthan the organisation in scope.”

Tom Graves, Mapping the Enterprise, Tetradian, 2010

Whose enterprise?

Whose enterprise?

If the organisation says it ‘is’ the enterprise,there’s no shared-story - and often, no story at all.

Whose enterprise?

The minimum real enterprise is the supply-chain - a story of shared transactions.

Whose enterprise?

The organisation and enterprise of the supply-chain take place within a broader organisation of the market.

Whose enterprise?

The market itself exists within a context of ‘intangible’ interactions with the broader shared-enterprise story.

A stakeholder in the storyis anyonewho can wielda sharp-pointed stakein your direction…

CC-BY-NC-SA evilpeacock via Flickr

Stakeholders in the enterprise

(Hint: there are a lot more of them than you might at first think…)

…what story would be a ‘guiding star’,to bring all of these stakeholders together?

Vision and values…

What works best is a three-part ‘story’ :-shared-concern (‘What’)

-action (‘How’)

- qualifier (‘Why’)

A myriad of ‘guiding stars’ out there…

…choose one that looks right to you.

Use it as your guiding-star. Everywhere.

Example (TED conferences): “Ideas worth spreading”

Concern: the focus of interest to everyone in the shared-enterprise

“Ideas worth spreading”

CC-BY UK DFID via Flickr

“Ideas worth spreading”

Action: what is being done to or with or about

the concern

CC-BY US Army Africa via Flickr

“Ideas worth spreading”

Qualifier:the emotive

driver for actionon the concern

CC-BY HDTPCAR via Flickr

We can view employees in many ways:

- resource- customer- supplier- investor

- associate

Perspectives…

Perspective: ‘Resource’

Viewing employees as ‘resources’ or ‘production-units’ may well block their access to motivation and skill.

Perspective: Customer

Employees are actually the ‘customers’ for the organisation’s ‘people-unit’ services.

Perspective: Supplier

Viewing employees as suppliers enables access to skill,but without link to enterprise-story, motivation may be lost.

Perspective: Investor

Viewing employees as investors – stakeholders in theshared-story – is useful but often politically-problematic.

Perspective: Associate

For an employee-engagement model that works well,most organisations will need some mix of all perspectives.

…names can be important!

- a misplaced metaphorcan have very unfortunate

unintended-consequences…

Choose the right name for it…

is when they are slaves…

CC-BY-NC-ND littlejoncollection via Flickr

Choose metaphors wisely…

- the only time that people are ‘assets’

“Our people are our greatest asset!”

Choose metaphors wisely…

(probably best not to show a literal image for ‘Human Resources’…)

“Human Resources”

CC-BY-SA shockinglytasty via Flickr

Step 2: Drivers

In what ways do all of these themes- skills, motivation, stakeholders,

story, perspectives, name -apply in your enterprise?

What do they imply for your ‘as-is’ systems for employee-engagement?

“What’s the story?”Step 3: To-be

The ‘as-is’ tells you what you have…

…your choice ofhow to respond to the drivers

tells you what you need…

…where do you go from here?

Design the ‘to-be’ systems…

Step 3: To-be

What name for the ‘people-service’?

What does it do?(people, process, technology)

What is its structure?(what, how, where, who, when, why)

Create a sketch-diagram of this service and its structures, content and actions

“What’s the story?”Step 4: Roadmap

This is where things tend to getreally, uh, interesting…

From here to there…

Step 4: Roadmap

What are the gapsbetween as-is and to-be?

How will you bridge those gaps?What change-projects will you need?

Over what time-scales?

How will you tackleall the politics of this…?

What do you see differently now?

CC-BY Gulltaggen via Flickr

It’s all about the experience!What can you do in your enterprise-architecture

to create engagement in the ‘people-side’ of the enterprise?

“What’s the story?”Thank you!

Contact: Tom Graves

Company: Tetradian Consulting

Email: tom@tetradian.com

Twitter: @tetradian ( http://twitter.com/tetradian )

Weblog: http://weblog.tetradian.com

Slidedecks: http://www.slideshare.net/tetradian

Publications: http://tetradianbooks.com

Books: • The enterprise as story: the role of narrative in enterprise-architecture (2012)

• Mapping the enterprise: modelling the enterprise as services with the Enterprise Canvas (2010)

• Everyday enterprise-architecture: sensemaking, strategy, structures and solutions (2010)

• Doing enterprise-architecture: process and practice in the real enterprise (2009)

Further information: