REAL Talk With Sam Holcman

Ban the Term User

The unkindest symptomatic term that technology people use to describe the people that pay the bills – USERS.  It is a mindset; it is an insult.  It needs to stop being used by information technology people now.  Listen in as to why.

Year 2038 - Get Going Today

Let me summarize. If you were involved in or part of activities regarding the date issue in year 2000, year 2038 is going to make year 2000 look like child’s play. Time to get started! Let us start with an inventory.

Operations Evaluation and Optimization - First Process, Then Technology, Then People

Operations Evaluation and Optimization – something we have been doing for over twenty years with our clients. First Process, then Technology, and then People – this order is important.  Starting with headcount reduction does not address the Root Cause – inefficient processes. Process Visualization is the key to Root Cause understanding, and optimizing the whole.

Zombie Software and Hardware - Do you have these vulnerabilities

What is Zombie Software and Hardware?  It is hardware and software that has not been completely removed – eliminated – from your organization's physical implementations.  Why is this a serious cyber threat?  Listen in.

Data and AI - The Questions to Ask

We all know what makes artificial intelligence work is data. But how much do you know about the data that is being used in artificial intelligence? Whether it's a model that you obtained off of the Internet, a large language model, a small language model, or other sources. What is the quality of that particular data? Who actually owns the data? What context is the data coming from? Can you actually trust it? These and more questions are outlined in this episode of Real Talk with Sam Holcman. Stay tuned and think about these things after the broadcast, in your own context.

Educate Demonstrate Train - They Are Different

In the world of Enterprise Architecture and Business Architecture, the terms educate, demonstrate and train are often confused. In this broadcast, we will define each one of these terms from the context of two different audiences - one is the Enterprise Architect and Business Architect, and the other is the stakeholder’s context. As you will hear from this broadcast, the skills you require are different for educating, demonstrating, and training, and we hope that this broadcast will help you to be more successful in your chosen field by recognizing these differences.

Business Architecture - A Distinct Discipline from Enterprise Architecture

Business Architecture is often misunderstood and incorrectly categorized as a mere component of Enterprise Architecture. This concise exploration aims to dispel the marketing hype and provide clarity on this crucial yet frequently misinterpreted field.

AI and Software Development - Still Stuck in Maturity Level 1

Paving over the cow paths.  Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting change. All you have do to is buy a package and you will never have to work and thing again (and you can get rid of all o f the programmers!).  How many of these have you heard?  Here we go again – AI Coding will solve all ills.  Have a listen.

EA and BA Failures - Lessons from Strategic Intelligence Blunders

Let us look outside of EA and BA at failures in other disciplines to see if we can learn something. This gets us away from siloed thinking in our own domain. Perhaps we can learn something!

The Thirst for Ease

Humankind has a thirst for ease.  Sometimes, we just fill out forms with 123 Main Street, Joe Doe as our name, 123-456-7890 as our telephone number.  Innocent or mischievous?  Does your favorite AI tool or language model know this?  Of course not.  If you have not dug into this yet in your language models, you will possibly be surprised.  The issue is large and growing.