REAL Talk With Sam Holcman

Top 10 Questions and Answers to DeMystify Enterprise Architecture

What is Enterprise Architecture (EA)? How long has EA been around? How do you cost justify EA? Where should EA reside in the organization? Who is the audience for EA? When do I need to do EA? Why should an organization do EA? What is an EA Framework? What is an EA Methodology? What does EA certification actually mean? What is the background required for a great Enterprise Architect? How do I start?
To remove some confusion, some are calling REAL EA, Business Driven Enterprise Architecture.

What Business Executives and Managers Need To Know about Software

Most agree that software are a fundamental requirement in today's digital focus & transformations.
What do we really have to understand about software? What should business expectations be about engaging in developing software? Do we need to describe their needs, that are 'transformed' into their described requirements?
We describe 10 things that demystify software development, the business' role in the software development lifecycle, & how to build a true business-technology relationship.

In Search of a Search Engine

We examine what search engines actually are and the possibilities of what will come next in the future of search. We draw on history for some ideas. Are the issues we are seeing because of bias, privacy, censorship, speed, or accuracy? Or is the real issue money? The short answer is – all of these and more.
 
Let's think about a library and library science. What makes libraries work? Three things: The Dewey Decimal System, the consistent state of facts in the library, and finally, the librarian.

Artificial Intelligence - Perhaps Augmented Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence was first coined by John McCarthy in 1956.
We define what artificial intelligence is, then summarize both positive & negative developments in this field. We suggest there is madness that needs to be addressed, and with not much difficulty.
We have decades of learning about artificial intelligence. But can machines really learn, & who & what are they learning from?
We can't forget the phrase “garbage in, garbage out”? Can we move to “good stuff in, better stuff out”? Yes!

Technical Debt – It Is Much More Than Just Technical

Technical debt is a shortcut taken by technologists, & business personnel, to get the solution out the door. It's also used to justify different challenges faced.
All facets – the business, associated technologists & solution developers, as well as human resources in & out of the enterprise are affected.
We explore the phrase itself, & underlying meaning well beyond taking shortcuts in writing & implementing software & computer applications. Technical debt is less visible & often easy to ignore.

Your Business has an Architecture - do you know what it is? Part 2

All businesses have an Architecture – the question is, if explicit or implicit.
Various groups approach the concept & practice of Business & Enterprise Architecture from differing value points. We emphasize a documented, human consumable, prioritized, architecture which is evergreen, ever-robust, & evolves.
Business & technology advantages arise, as solutions through these methodologies & approaches are developed & deployed. We outline additional advantages of Solutions driven by Architecture.

Your Business has an Architecture, but do you know what it is?

A driving need for Enterprise & Business Architecture is to enable IT teams to quickly, accurately & iteratively deploy prioritized, stable & operationally excellent business solutions.
Groups approach the concept & practice of these from differing value points. We emphasize a documented, human consumable, prioritized, architecture which is evergreen, ever-robust, & evolves.
Business & technology advantages arise, as solutions through these methodologies & approaches are developed & deployed.

The Critical Role of the Business Technology Collaborator/Partner

The Business Technology Collaborator/Partner (BTP) understands business needs, possibilities of technology to address needs, & presents a business case that's suitable & understandable to the stakeholders, & transformable by technology specialists.
A BTP is different from business analysis, technologists, or business/enterprise architects. They can rationally balance short & long term business & technology needs & goals. They can balance between human communications & technology awareness.

RightSourcing – Balancing Inhouse/Purchased Services and Software

Most organizations have had a mix of purchased, leased, or rented technologies, software, and human services. Yet we have seen little practiced or written about how to determine what this balance is, what it should be, and how to monitor the changing dynamics in today’s digital transformational world.Traditionally, cost reduction is a primary measure for sourcing decisions. A secondary focus is access to “scarce” skills and resources. Yet even these measures seem to lack an approach to validation and verification that the actions taken produced the desired results, and continue, in this dynamic pace of change, to provide these desired results.
We will bring some method to right-source without madness! We will use the EACOE Enterprise Architecture Methodology to outline a logical process to bring clarity and logic to these crucial decisions. The focus of any of these decisions should be to enable the Business or Mission Strategy, in the most cost effective, and prudent manner.

Process Visualization Unlocking your Hidden Assets

In this age of digital transformation, big data, cloud computing, & numerous other actions you may be undertaking or thinking about in your organization, one fundamental fact remains. What we in organizations do is processing data.
We outline our approach to Process Visualization. We review the benefits & challenges surrounding process understanding, & outline field-proven approaches to obtaining these benefits. We also outline the methodology we use in practice, to guide these efforts.