A week in Tweets: 31 Jan – 6 Feb 2010

Another week, another collection of Tweets and links…

A handful of extended conversations, and a special section on the TOGAF conference in Seattle. Beyond that it’s the usual categories that I hope you find useful, preceded by the usual ‘Read more…’ link:

Enterprise-architecture, business-architecture and general businessy-themes:

• thoughttrans: SBDi Biz2Geeks Post: Passion and Industry Boundaries http://bit.ly/6uHHRt #in #e20 #bizarch <“What’s happening in your industry? Does it fit with your passion?” – useful checklist/action-list
• oscarberg: When I hear someone talk about risk without even mentioning value, I stop listening <crucial in #entarch #bizarch
• jdevoo: Anti-taylorist work practices at Semco http://bit.ly/cfH0Ks <2004, but still important for #entarch #bizarch
• (via @jdevoo) “Wi-fi structures and people-shapes” http://bit.ly/cboB2u – data-visualisation and human impact #entarch #e20
• business_design: (Real) Ambition: Building Business Models that Matter http://bit.ly/aZu4yc (new blogpost) <#csr #entarch #bizarch – another ‘backgrounder’ for the ‘Business Models Beyond Profit’ project
• enterprisearchs: RT @CIOonline: Enterprise IT’s Top Enemy: Its Own Arrogance http://bit.ly/b3iVhK by @twailgum #BI
• rettema: Ackoff guide to Idealized Design http://twurl.nl/cg5put [PDF] starts with formulating the Mess. <#entarch
• rettema: Applying Interactive Planning at DuPont:Case Transform a Safety, Health, and Env. Function to Deliver Business Value http://twurl.nl/yass5d <2002, but another useful Russell Ackoff example
• BillIves: RT @ariegoldshlager: The Value of Design http://bit.ly/a04yUY Via: @HelenWalters <useful BusinessWeek special #entarch
• AussiMike: Rethinking Open Data http://ff.im/-ffg0R <good example of interact b/w tech-arch (data) and real #entarch
• oscarberg: RT @jonhusband Great new graphic by @dhinchcliffe http://bit.ly/bXvur6 #e20 <forces for social/business change #entarch
• getstoried: consider story more expansively, not just literally, meta story shapes perception of reality <#entarch – enterprise as story
• thoughttrans: BizArch is needed now during the chaos of the death of the commodity age to artistic age…so why are corps not doing more of it?
• JohnPolgreen: Boston #TOGAF cert course: good to say we’ve integrated #bizarch into TOGAF #entarch, much harder to actually do it. <difference b/w theory and real-world practice..
• chrisdpotts: In one of my clients, the Corporate Strategy team are making a play for Enterprise Architecture (but not IT Architecture). <makes sense as a better location for #entarch?
• chrisdpotts: Note to Enterprise Architects:  the future of EA may be more about who ultimately gets to do it, rather than what EA itself will become.
• tetradian: <post> ‘Vision, strategy, plans and tactics’ (for @chrisdpotts @richardveryard @oscarberg et al) http://bit.ly/dufyVB #entarch
• oscarberg: RT @fastcompany Dan Heath and the importance of “the story” as a communication tool http://bit.ly/aTOHKD /via @VMaryAbraham <context is marketing, but applies equally to #entarch
• tetradian: <post> ‘Architecture is non-functional’ (with thanks to Sam Ishak #ogsea) http://bit.ly/cvV0VZ #entarch #bizarch
• hebsgaard: How intellectual inbreeding stifles the meme pool http://bit.ly/9BKlk4 <another great Nick Milton insight #KM #entarch
• tetradian: Nick Milton’s ‘Bird Island’ exercise http://bit.ly/dCdeMm (with link to PDF) – designed for #KM, what equivs for #entarch?
• (via @chrisdpotts) Dana Gardner i/view w Len Fehskens, one Open Group VP who really gets whole-enterprise EA http://bit.ly/a1RRjf #entarch
• greblhad: On value of #entarch “If you don’t control your architecture, it controls you” http://wp.me/p7ejN-7d
• SAlhir: @stephenlynch @HarvardBiz Drucker’s Question: What Will You Do Differently on Monday? http://bit.ly/a6mvkK <#csr #values #entarch useful real-world examples of applications of values in exec-level decision-making
• (via @pevansgreenwood) @bankervision “Halfway through my week at the front line” http://bit.ly/ceg6VM <harsh realism #entarch

Knowledge-management, narrative-knowledge and in-person collaboration:

• oscarberg: About memories and forgetting http://bit.ly/7M3K2J by @EskoKilpi <a quiet, thoughtful view on the deeper meaning of #KM
• unorder: Anecdote post. Keeping richness in decision making http://www.anecdote.com.au/archives/2010/02/keeping_richnes.html <another insightful Anecdote post, as always
• oscarberg: Annoyed when I hear about managers who don’t get that (knowledge) work is not a place, but something you do.
• tetradian: @oscarberg knowledge-work is not just something you do (extrinsic motivation) but something you are (intrinsic motivation) #norewards
• oscarberg: RT @fredrikharen: Had interview & got idea quote of the day:”Knowledge is the past,ideas are the future. Knowledge is concentration. Creativity is attention.”
• DavidGurteen: Learning is (still) conversation http://bit.ly/c5Y4kz #KM <another great post by Harold Jarche
• DavidGurteen: Knowledge Cafes v. World Cafes http://bit.ly/9mNnWC #KM
• hebsgaard: HBR: The Problem with the Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom Hierarchy http://bit.ly/abBBzy #KM
• getstoried: RT @KrzysBaszton: insights on multimedia narratives for ur co read this great blog by @ThomasClifford http://bit.ly/dgzonn #storytelling
• oscarberg: Being an expert today is about being connected to other experts. Ultimately, we’ll all become nodes in a giant brain 😉 // The time when expertise was aggregated on a few persons is over – the network has much greater capacity and reach

‘Enterprise 2.0’, social-media and online-collaboration:

• oscarberg: RT @bduperrin: New blog post [eng] :: Enterprise 2.0, collaboration and personal constraints http://bit.ly/90q0jd
• oscarberg: Blogged: Interesting Enterprise 2.0 Readings – Week 5 2010 http://goo.gl/fb/nFOu
• oscarberg: RT @raesmaa: The Importance of Managing Your Online Reputation http://bit.ly/as53lo /by @VenessaMiemis <-Excellent post!

Technical-architecture, sometimes misdescribed as ‘enterprise’-architecture:

• bartleeten: Martijn Linssen: Cloud and Social: the tectonic plates of IT 2.0 http://icio.us/maiv2b <nice use of metaphor
• EnterprisingA: RT @EnterprisingA: RT @MartijnLinssen: Commented on @pevansgreenwood’s superb read about Enterprise IT Agility http://bit.ly/aP0gRW <- Ditto <and ditto
• AussiMike: The Future of Web Content – HTML5, Flash & Mobile Apps http://ff.im/-ftX3d <by Jeremy Allaire (ColdFusion, Brightcove) – technical but insightful and well-explained, inc. commercial/political issues

Assorted technical items:

• tebbo: Extracting text from #ecojam notes ‘printed’ to OneNote hopeless. But, printed notes as PDF, then read with http://j.mp/9L01OY Brilliant. <points to a very nice-looking free OCR reader: http://www.paperfile.net
• EnterprisingA: RT @VentureBeat Displax plastic film can turn any surface into a touchscreen http://bit.ly/a35Szq <- v interesting tech <developed in Portugal – at present allows for 7inch to 50inch diagonal, flat or curved, up to 16 fingers simultaneous – film is only 100microns thick – v. interesting indeed…
• AussiMike: Have I said before how fantastic Mailstore Home is …http://tinyurl.com/yp5nof…for backing up your cloud based email services #cloud
• blomr: @basvg The Wave seems to be alive >>RT @skemsley: Google Wave in the enterprise http://j.mp/9GueeG – download to check out speaker notes

Society, culture and corporate social responsibility themes:

• DavidGurteen: Sign THE PUBLIC DOMAIN MANIFESTO http://bit.ly/cIJenS <important – fight back against expropriation of the IP commons!
• tetradian: <post> ‘How to overdose on augmented-reality’ (with thanks to @AussiMike) http://bit.ly/b8x0wp #futures

And, of course, the miraculous miscellany:

• kvistgaard: I’m more interested in some RAQ than in most of the FAQ. (RAQ = rarely asked questions)
• oscarberg: How to avoid feeling of information overload: Decide where to focus your attention, you can’t be everywhere all the time // How to avoid feeling of information overload: Inactivate all notifications, especially e-mail. Decide what to check and when.
• DavidGurteen: 19 most complex + dangerous roads in world http://bit.ly/bMkW2e /amazing
• oscarberg: All answers cannot be given to you in advance, often you need to explore new areas to find the answers you’re looking for // The point where theory meets practice is where you actually learn
• tetradian: RT @oscarberg: The point where theory meets practice is where you actually learn <agreed, though ‘practice’ may sometimes look like theory!
• kdierc: @tetradian @oscarberg in theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is …
• rettema: A problem occurring in reality is not well-structured because it is connected inter alia with concepts of consciousness and difficulty.

Yet another lengthy side-discussion about the nature of ‘enterprise’ and enterprise-architecture:

• chrisdpotts: EA is becoming centered on the relationships between corporate stratgy and business operations (rather than a business and its IT). #entarch // Markets have Information Architectures. Your enterprise appears in those architectures. Best design it that way. // Markets also have Process Architectures. Previous tweet applies equally to those.
• tetradian: @chrisdpotts “Markets have [their own] Info / Process Architectures” – very strongly agree – also extends beyond customers/prospects etc
• chrisdpotts: What some EA approaches may be struggling with, is that they have tried to redefine what ‘Enterprise’ means.
• tetradian: @chrisdpotts “tried to redefine what ‘enterprise’ means” – in your view, what definition(s) will work well for #entarch?
• enectoux: @chrisdpotts could u be more specific? To me: it is irrelevant to “redefine enterprise”, but it is crucial to agree on what enterprise is.
• chrisdpotts: @tetradian @pauljansen I’m comfortable with the definitions of enterprise that existed before EA. Up to EA to work successfully within them.
• pauljansen: #enterprise: holistic perspective on all elements, effected by or effecting internal and external elements of a organized human undertaking
• JohnPolgreen: RT @chrisdpotts @pauljansen Any EA that discards ext stakeholders is severely constraining its own value and influence. < imp for #TOGAF
• pauljansen: @chrisdpotts So you agree that external stakeholders are/should be part of the Enterprise, and the Enterprise Architecture? #entarch
• chrisdpotts: @pauljansen They are!
• chrisdpotts: @enectoux enterprise has multiple established definitions http://bit.ly/9YiFau A challenge for EAs. Inventing more definitions won’t help.
• chrisdpotts: @pauljansen @tetradian @enectoux  If EA is struggling with the long-established definitions of enterprise, it’s EA that needs redefining.
• pauljansen: @chrisdpotts Enterprise: “holistic perspective on all internal/external elements effected by & effecting a purposeful human undertaking”…
• chrisdpotts: @pauljansen Enterprise *is* the undertaking, rather than a perspective on the undertaking.
• pauljansen: @chrisdpotts Indeed, and that is what I meant by ‘industrial paradigm’: most business ppl still draw boundaries around their enterprise // ..(organization) that meanwhile have become permeated. Hence an updated perspective on enterprise is needed to redefine it.
• chrisdpotts: @pauljansen I agree some people may need to adjust their perspective on the meaning of enterprise, but pre-EA definitions are fine.

Another side-discussion on cloud-computing and its impact on enterprise-architectures:

• tetradian: The move to cloud-computing may imply less IT-architecture, but more #bizarch / #entarch at whole-of-enterprise scale
• danielullmark: @tetradian overall IT Infrastructure may become more complex with a blend of cloud-based and on-premise services. Especially in transition
• estephen: @tetradian to me, the move to cloud just means the physical IT footprint is now scattered. #bizarch #entarch
• tetradian: @estephen will admit that I’m far more interested in the enterprise than in the IT – cloud helps to, uh clear the clouds 🙂 #entarch
• estephen: @tetradian too funny. cloud gives us elasticity #entarch
• MartijnLinssen: Only for infra or those apps that are elastic, and need elasticity… RT @estephen: @tetradian too funny. cloud gives us elasticity #entarch

A brief back-and-forth on an item of my own professional frustration:

• tetradian: Trying to get a group of nominal business-architects to understand that not everything can be described in monetary terms… frustrating 🙁
• bvanzomeren: @tetradian in my university almost nothing can be described in monetary terms; // although the univ. certainly needs funding, most of the goals are non-material. makes it difficult to determine priorities
• richardveryard: @tetradian while at the other extreme you get nominal business-architects unable or unwilling to describe *anything* in monetary terms

A side-discussion on IT-architecture, enterprise-architecture and strategy:

• chrisdpotts: “IT has focused on operations and not on business”- a response to my latest blog on business/IT integration http://bit.ly/dDu3PG Thoughts? // ‘Business/IT integration’ depends on what you think IT means in the first place (the technologies, the IT dept, IT suppliers, etc)
• EnterprisingA: @chrisdpotts Where I am the Strategic Directorate do Bus Arch and IT do IT Arch – and work together as a virtual team to do EA #success ?
• chrisdpotts: @EnterprisingA So another example where ‘Corporate Strategy’ have EA overall. Seems to be the emerging answer. // If you’re leading your enterprise’s strategy for EA you are a de facto corporate strategist, even if that’s not your formal role.
• pauljansen: @tetradian @chrisdpotts: an EA leading the enterprise’s strategy is a de facto corporate strategist and NOT an #entarch !!
• chrisdpotts: @pauljansen @tetradian I think you are saying that an Enterprise Architect cannot be the person leading the corporate strategy for EA…?
• pauljansen: @chrisdpotts (@tetradian) The CEO leads all strategy. An EA acting as a CEO is not an effective EA. EA leads #entarch tactics.

Special section on Tweets from the TOGAF Enterprise Architecture Practitioners conference, Seattle:

TOGAF Seattle: Day 1:

• blomr: http://bit.ly/c3XNGd The Open Group in Seattle LIVE! Follow #ogsea. <#entarch (or Open Group’s version of it, anyway)
• wilm: Sounds familiar: Challenging the idea that EA is a profession, it is disappearing into the business. Rollins, Burton Group. #fsd #ogsea
• rtolido: Keynote speaker of the Burton Group at The Open Group conference says EA should move into business. True. A cliche. But still true. #ogsea
• breadedcod: @rtolido Good money (4 HigherEd at least) says that there are folks there for whom Mike’s assertion isn’t a cliché -it’s new news #ogsea
• KuhlmannSascha: Imho Rollins at #ogsea hit the achilles heel of each Framework/discipline – the softskill/exp. side is hard to put in a box or manual…
• KuhlmannSascha: @breadedcod not really new news, but an area we ( EA’s) easily loose focus #ogsea
• stephengbennett: Gartner states that EA’s should not talk about alignment with the business as that has already been achieved !! #ogsea
• erikproper: @stephengbennett #ogsea Are they on a different planet?
• wilm: Nice: recognition that IT doesn’t just follow business needs, but also makes new business lines and innovation happen of itself Erl @ #ogsea <yes, but it needs to align those ‘new business lines’ to the overall aim of the enterprise, not just do ‘new IT for IT’s sake’ – that’s the point that’s too often forgotten!

TOGAF Seattle: Day 2:

• wilm: Westbrock: transformative business architecture has separate IT and business domains. Cool, we’re done, then. #ogsea
• Dana_Gardner: Westbrock: “Role for EA is to connect the business strategy to implementation” … Succinct and powerful. #ogsea <two cheers! – not IT-centric (at last!) but still some way to go
• Dana_Gardner: EA just too narrow for what IT needs to do, hence the need for the larger category, says Westbrock, ie Business Architecture. #TOGSEA // Learning the business and communicating it more essential than technical depth in Business Architecture, says Westbrock. #TOGSEA
• chrisdpotts: RT @bmichelson: RT @Technodad: Westbrock: We don’t use the term EA when talking to C-level. We talk about capabilities and outcomes.
• wilm: Like this: consider long term function of EA and business need, tune the practice to what is appropriate for the org now. MacGregor #ogsea <much-needed realism 🙂
• wilm: Beginning to realise quite how deep the model – view distinction (and hence cross-org comms) runs in ArchiMate http://bit.ly/cTA3qq #ogsea <note: limited-time access to PDF – may not be available

TOGAF Seattle: Day 3:

• RealIRM: Foote: #EntArch redux – working through a Meta 2001 presentation – not much has really changed #ogsea // Foote: Creditability and trust key to #EntArch success #ogsea // Foote: You are not truly an Enterprise Architect until the ‘business says you are one of us” #EntArch #ogsea
• TechnoDad: Peter Coffee at #ogsea Cloud Computing track: ‘Desktop office documents on laptops are the “dark matter” of the IT universe.’
• bergmart: To me most insights in EA are not new anymore, when looking at discussions at #ogsea What are really next steps in EA?
• tetradian: @bergmart suggest: properly break out of ‘EA=IT’; fully engage in complexity/agility; expand to whole-enterprise (not just whole-org) #ogsea
• bergmart: RT @ericroovers:It’s not about EA anymore. It’s about managing all the cycles of change, and arch is one cog in the machine #ogsea
• bergmart: @ericroovers I like your point: EA is indeed an island, we have to find connections. Next OG conf. with PMs, Engineers, Business dev #ogsea
• davenielsen: @technodad “SOA is flexibility in search of scaleability. That’s why its moving quickly to the cloud” #cloudcamp #ogsea