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Tweets from Open Group conference, Boston

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A collection of Tweets from and/or about the Open Group conference in Boston. A few references to Day 1 – particularly the ‘unconference’ – but mainly about Day 2, where the Jeanne Ross keynote was obviously the highlight.

I’ve split this into sections, mainly around the current speaker. I’ve also added occasional comments of my own at the end of some tweets, shown in italics.

Many thanks especially to Dana Gardner (@Dana_Gardner), Brenda Michelson (@bmichelson), Aleks Buterman (@aleksb6), Lisa Melsted (@lmelsted) and @rsevero (apologies, I don’t know the proper name), who provided the bulk of the Tweets here.

First segment was on security, which I admit is not my field:

  • lmelsted: Internet Security Alliance’s Larry Clinton says 90% of security breaches could be prevented by following known best practices
  • Technodad: Larry Clinton of ISA: Cyber targets shifted to individual employees; need to shift focus from security tech to business risk analysis
  • lmelsted: IBMers Peter Coldicott & Tony Carrato advise architects to consider security  when the physical and digital worlds collide
  • cebess: Cybersecurity blog post on http://www.hp.com/go/tnbt #yam

Next up was the TOGAF Camp ‘unconference’, which seems to have been based on a somewhat more controlled version of the Open Space process. I’m very sad to have missed that – it looks like it would have been very good indeed:

On Day 2 (Tuesday 20 July), the evident highlight was the keynote on ‘Evolving EA from IT to Business’, by Jeanne Ross, co-author of ‘Enterprise Architecture As Strategy’:

  • bmichelson: Jeanne Ross’ talk is taking EA to the Business; Why architecture matters? “The quest for Agility”
  • Dana_Gardner: Ross: architecture is about business agility; essential for the digital enterprise; the best way to react to market changes.
  • bmichelson: Agility – use of existing business & IT capabilities to rapidly generate new business value while limiting costs & risks -Jeanne Ross
  • Dana_Gardner: Many businesses never get to promoting agility, they are too busy putting out risk and costs fires, says Ross.
  • bmichelson: With architecture, we are designing organizations, not just IT capabilities – Jeanne Ross
  • Dana_Gardner: Key question: How does IT get attention of business to get architecture to where it can work the agility problem, says Ross
  • aleksb6: Jeanne Ross:  key question – how can #entarch sitting in #IT get everyone in biz on board? #bizarch #cio #cfo #ceo
  • bmichelson: In addition to being architects, we need to marketers and educators — Jeanne Ross, citing research findings <– +100 on marketers
  • Dana_Gardner: Ross: IT needs to “market” architecture across the firm, and take both short- and long-term goals; this is an “art”
  • aleksb6: Jeanne Ross at #ogbos – architecture journey involves a biz transformation #entarch #bizarch
  • Dana_Gardner: The architecture journey is really business transformation, “a really big deal,” says Ross.
  • bmichelson: The architecture journey, is itself a business transformation . Embracing architecture (correctly) is a really big deal – Jeanne Ross
  • trouxsoftware: “The art of architecture is reconciling long term view with current business imperatives”.Jeanne Ross
  • chrisdpotts: RT @aleksb6: Jeanne Ross at #ogbos – architecture journey involves a biz transformation #entarch #bizarch | me:  so true!
  • chrisdpotts: @tetradian Concerned by the idea of ‘taking #entarch to the business’, as it’s already there.  EAs role is to discover, join in & enhance.
  • tetradian: @chrisdpotts re ‘concerned by the idea of ‘taking #entarch to the business”‘ – strongly agree with you
  • darachennis: RT @bmichelson: The architecture journey, is itself a business transformation . Embracing architecture (correctly) is a really big deal – Jeanne Ross
  • tetradian: Jeanne Ross at re #entarch as business transform – music to my ears, this is exactly what we were doing at Australia Post 6 years ago
  • chrisdpotts: @tetradian Hmm.  Are you inferring something about the currency of MIT’s research?
  • tetradian: @chrisdpotts no, ‘cos ‘EA as Strategy’ was researched around that time too – but most ‘#entarch’ is still way behind, as you know
  • chrisdpotts: @tetradian There are a number of schools of #entarch.  Doesn’t necessarily mean that some are ‘behind’ others.
  • tetradian: @chrisdpotts in terms of deliberately restricting scope to IT-centrism and pretending that that ‘is’ #entarch, I would say they’re ‘behind’
  • chrisdpotts: @tetradian What may make them ‘behind’ is knowing what all the latest #entarch possibilities are.
  • tetradian: @chrisdpotts yup – except quote “there are none so blind as those who choose not to see” etc… 😐
  • chrisdpotts: What would #entarch focus on if it were (temporarily) banned from mentioning technology?
  • tetradian: @chrisdpotts if #entarch ‘banned’ from mentioning tech, it might at last look at the whole-enterprise – whole-system integration etc
  • iaflash: #iaflash With architecture, we are designing organizations, not just IT capabilities – Jeanne Ross http://bit.ly/d7PAJ4
  • iaflash: #iaflash Jeanne Ross.  Architecture is about business agility. http://bit.ly/c4yTdx
  • bmichelson: Jeanne Ross is talking about 4 stages of business: business silos, standardized tech, optimized core & business modularity
  • aleksb6: question: “Strategic Business Value of Architecture Maturity” curve, has anyone quantified the value of each maturity level? #entarch
  • allenbrownopen: Jeanne Ross says we have to be marketers. Market the impact of architecture to the enterprise.
  • bmichelson: everyday, we take the next step on the business and therefore #entarch journey. Not race to stage 4 – Jeanne Ross
  • Dana_Gardner: Ross; Businesses now in a deep learning phase, of going from using IT for projects to using IT and architecture to make them agile.
  • rsevero: Great speech: “Evolving EA from IT to Business”. Jeanne Ross (MIT) speaking. She wrote “EA As Strategy…” http://amzn.to/bOraDy
  • Technodad: Ross at: Great arch companies make 4 commitments: Strategic choices, actionable assessment, distinctive digitization, working smarter
  • bmichelson: Scope of IT — does it include digitized products, or not? BMW says yes, b/c need to be integrated – Jeanne Ross
  • Dana_Gardner: EA forces companies to define core from context, make strategic choices for role of IT, define their value, says Ross.
  • aleksb6: if #entarch is to be effective in marketing itself to biz, it’d help to have hard #’s on the value of moving along the maturity curve
  • bmichelson: @chrisdpotts it’s the business journey, from startup and experimentation to structured to optimized. EA need increases by stage
  • Dana_Gardner: No one in EA plenary believes if you build a platform users will use it. Platforms are not road to success, it’s people, says Ross.
  • stevenunn: Full room for Jeanne Ross at. Just because you build a platform, doesn’t mean people will use it. How true!
  • bmichelson: Every #entarch who is serious about business contribution should read Jeanne Ross and hear her speak
  • Dana_Gardner: Successful companies over next 10 years will figure out platforms don’t make IT work … architecture, people, process, says Ross.
  • Technodad: Ross at: Great IT co’s commit company-wide & long-term  to working digitally using tech platform – changing work habits is hard.
  • stevenunn: Jeanne Ross predicts that those companies who really use their digital platform will differentiate themselves in next decade.
  • bmichelson: data, data, data, metrics, metrics, metrics, smart decision-making, now! – 7-Eleven Japan Success Story via platform – Jeanne Ross
  • aleksb6: did Jeanne Ross just throw a gauntlet to “IT is a commodity” school of thinking at? #entarch #bizarch #ceo #cio #cfo #coo
  • stevenunn: Jeanne Ross at talks of 7-Eleven Japan being divested from US parent, then becoming so successful that it bought it’s former parent!
  • bmichelson: re “IT as commodity” (or not) @aleksb6 think Jeanne Ross is saying there is a commodity-contribution line at the (bus) platform layer
  • gdaniels: Wish I was at #oscon, but digging tweets from both there and #ogbos.  Thanks all for sharing perceptions + insights.
  • aleksb6: @chrisdpotts not #entarch, but the #ceo should care: firms that have digitized platform will gain higher strategic business value
  • stevenunn: Jeanne Ross talks of Toyota Europe’s information-centric platform being built on shared inventory, not shared CRM.
  • aleksb6: @bmichelson right, and that contribution line is dependent on organizational maturity at using IT
  • lmelsted: MIT’s Jeanne Ross says that evolving architecture to business is a four step journey
  • bmichelson: If Campbell’s soup can do it (digital transformation) anyone can! – Jeanne Ross — #entarch is mmm mmm good
  • srog: How will we help organizations understand as go from brick & mortar to digital companies that they will have to transform?  J Ross
  • stevenunn: Jeanne Ross stresses the need to move towards long-term goals, while addressing short-term needs.
  • aleksb6: @chrisdpotts but investments themselves cannot be classified as commodity, can they? not just about optimization, it’s about value!
  • aleksb6: RT @srog: How will we help organizations understand as go from brick & mortar to digital companies that they will have to transform?  J Ross
  • lmelsted: Steps for the evolution include: realizing EA is a journey, making a commitment, taking a long term view and major biz transformation
  • Dana_Gardner: New corporate piracy: ID the companies that DON’T do EA, buy a competitor and transform it fast, or start-up; take the whole market.
  • bmichelson: Campbell embraced a “total delivered cost” metric. Delivery of can of soup should never go up. Org rallied on keeping metric down –
  • bmichelson: “business architecture is not separate from tech or data arch, it’s the overarching logic” – Jeanne Ross
  • aleksb6: @Dana_Gardner to extend that thought, every corporate raider must have #entarch as core competency?
  • trouxsoftware: Jeanne Ross “Always focus on business outcomes of architecture efforts.”
  • Dana_Gardner: Business architecture is the over-arching logic of running a business, says Ross.
  • bmichelson: #entarch is everyone’s responsibility – architects might have to help people see and do it  – Jeanne Ross
  • bmichelson: if there are no business metrics, there is no business architecture.  stop the train.  – Jeanne Ross
  • aleksb6: Jeanne Ross at :  “if there are no biz metrics, there is no #bizarch. Stop the train!” #ceo #coo #cfo #cio #entarch
  • erikproper: @bmichelson That sounds like “BA is the B motivation for T and D arch” … that ain’t the Arch of the Businss IMHO …
  • Dana_Gardner: EA is a grass-roots effort inside companies, architects need to be the evangelists. Reap what you sow?
  • bmichelson: “architecture is at the heart of success in a digital economy”  – Jeanne Ross
  • Dana_Gardner: How will EAs “market” the role of architecture? Metrics and logic, not spin; talk in their language, says Ross.
  • bmichelson: Jeanne Ross – Don’t use the “A” word in marketing Enterprise Architecture <yup – very good point – v.important
  • bmichelson: “Architecture is not the only thing that matters, but it can have a huge impact”  – Jeanne Ross
  • Dana_Gardner: ID pain points in terms of cost and time, and focus there to demonstrate agility benefits, says Ross of EA efforts.
  • Dana_Gardner: Cowboy agility not as good as repeatable, core agility based on refined process, not loose cannons on a tear, says Ross.
  • stevenunn: Jeanne Ross “1st 2 lessons for architects: Bus Arch is not separate from technology or data architecture; focus on business outcomes”
  • Technodad: Ross at: Business agility needs to come from re-use of IT & organizational capabilities, not heroics by IT staff.
  • stevenunn: Jeanne Ross: lessons 3&4: EA is everyone’s responsibility; there is no business architecture without business metrics
  • bmichelson: CIO at stage 2 (standardization) should be great at IT, CIO at stage 3 (optimized) could be from business –  – Jeanne Ross
  • erikproper: @bmichelson Maybe Jeanne Ross can twitter an answer to BA versus BM for “Technologies A” question.
  • Dana_Gardner: CIOs with no IT background? Works only when the IT maturity has progressed, but can help bind biz and IT goals and means, says Ross.
  • aleksb6: question on whether a biz person w/o #IT background makes a good #CIO <- me: how about person w/o accounting background to be #CFO?
  • CIOLeader: RT @bmichelson: “always focus on business outcomes of architecture efforts” – Jeanne Ross – This is not practiced enough! #entarch
  • aleksb6: interesting thought: #cloud allows a firm to START their #capability investments with Stage 4, rather than mature there over time
  • bmichelson: Enterprise Architects aren’t always able to convert frameworks (TOGAF, DODAF, etc) into value –  – Jeanne Ross
  • chrisonea: Why handicap ur company like that? RT @aleksb6: question on whether a biz person w/o #IT background makes a good #CIO
  • chrisonea: KEY >RT @productmarketer: RT @trouxsoftware: Jeanne Ross “Always focus on business outcomes of architecture efforts.” #entarch
  • bmichelson: business processes and information must be addressed (i say attacked) together – need better processes & good data –  – Jeanne Ross
  • aleksb6: Jeanne Ross  at : there is a cemetery dedicated to #failed data governance initiatives #MDM #entarch
  • ebenhewitt: RT @Dana_Gardner: Worldwide TOGAF Adoption Accelerates http://bit.ly/bxJh8M DG< China is particularly hot
  • nigelcameron: The key to all success, surely: via @stevenunn: Jeanne Ross  – need to move towards long-term goals, while addressing s/term needs.
  • stevenunn: Dave Hornford, Chair of Open Group Architecture Forum says forum has more than 220 members from 22 countries & 12 vertical industries <220 members!!! no wonder they rarely succeed in getting anything done…
  • breadedcod: Would have liked to have heard the Jeanne Ross keynote at. Will have to wait until folks post updates > 140chars to catch up

Next up, Hamidou Dia of Oracle, on ‘Building Sustainable Architectures for Business Success’:

  • bmichelson: Hamidou Dia of Oracle’s Enterprise Architecture practice is up. Promises to not talk about Products.
  • lmelsted: Oracle’s Hamidou Dia discusses sustainable architecture – meet today’s needs without compromising the future
  • lmelsted: EA principles can be leveraged to build sustainability – Hamidou Dia,
  • aleksb6: next up, Hamadou Dia from #oracle #entarch practice, on painting EA red
  • stevenunn: 4 top business goals for EA: grow/ M&A, adapt, innovate, reduce costs, says Hamidou Dia at
  • bmichelson: oh, i get it. no product names. just category mentions. EA brings Abstraction to Oracle Marketing <nicely cynical! (“oh ye of little faith and much experience…” 😐 )
  • bmichelson: well @tetradian i am an #entarch by trade. cynicism-as-a-service
  • tetradian: @bmichelson ‘cynicism-as-a-service’: beautifully put, ma’am, beautifully put! 🙂
  • aleksb6: hamadou dia at : current state documentation almost killed #entarch as a discipline <yup – you do current-state when you need it (e.g. for gap-analysis), but not before – documenting current-state for its own sake is not entarch, it’s low-level administration
  • aleksb6: @bmichelson perhaps they took Jeanne’s advice of becoming expert #entarch marketers seriously?
  • rsevero: Mr. Hamidu Dia (Sr. Director – EA in Oracle) – EA mission: “Meet today’s needs without compromising the Future”
  • stevenunn: “It is possible not to spend ages documenting current architecture”, says Hamidou Dia at. “Just enough, just in time” is fine
  • chrisonea: RT @stevenunn: don’t spend ages documenting current arch says Hamidou Dia at. “Just enough, just in time” is fine < Agree u need SOME
  • trouxsoftware: Hamadou Dia of Oracle.  Every Oracle EA will be TOGAF certified.
  • stevenunn: Hamidou Dia at stresses the value of using architecture principles, and a strategic roadmap. Take the time to do these properly!
  • tetradian: would be great if any of this supposed ‘enterprise’-architecture was actually about the architecture of the enterprise… 🙁
  • stevenunn: EA governance model has to include an engagement model which enables local businesses to contribute value, says Hamidou Dia at
  • erikproper: Wonders what the colour of Enterprise is …. can’t be a techno colour …
  • aleksb6: Hamadou Dia at : #oracle chose the Unified #bom – possible wen there’s a single stakeholder at the top?
  • aleksb6: Hamadou Dia at – the real value of #entarch transformation is in keeping G&A expenses low despite 45 acquisitions in last 4 years

A few ‘party political broadcasts’ from Andrew Josey on the Open Group’s support for the much-hyped ‘cloud-computing’:

  • a_josey: Strengthening your Business Case for Using Cloud:A White Paper by The Open Group Cloud Computing Work Group http://ow.ly/2dUlM <huh? sounds like ‘sales-pitch as business-case’ if you’re trying to ‘sell’ cloud to others in business
  • a_josey: Cloud Buyers’ Decision Tree: A White Paper by The Open Group Cloud Computing Work Group http://ow.ly/2dUgT <more sales-pitch for cloud… oh dear…
  • a_josey: Cloud Buyers’ Requirements Questionnaire, Version 1.0: A White Paper by The Open Group Cloud Computing Work Group http://ow.ly/2dUpn

Continuing (sort-of) the ‘EA beyond IT’ theme, Mary Tolbert on ‘TOGAF 9 and the US Department of Defense Architecture Framework 2.0 (DoDAF 2.0)’:

  • bmichelson: Mary Tolbert of Mitre is up, talking abt Togaf & Dodaf together
  • bmichelson: DoDAF Viewpoints and Models – Capability Viewpoint http://bit.ly/9Lg5SP <– hmm, new capability viewpoint
  • lmelsted: Practical tutorial with MITRE’s Mary Tolber on using DoDAF 2.0 with TOGAF 9 –
  • bmichelson: In DODAF business architecture is captured (mostly) in the Operational Viewpoint http://bit.ly/95aAmb – Mary Tolbert
  • bmichelson: The crux of Mary Tolbert’s TOGAF and DoDAF work is using TOGAF ADM as navigation to deliver the DoDAF Viewpoints.
  • bmichelson: side note: no #entarch success will come talking to our business & IT constituents in same manner as we talk to each other
  • Technodad: Mary Tolbert of MITRE covers using #TOGAF methodology to produce #DoDAF architectures at – mapping is at http://bit.ly/a3OEqS
  • a_josey: WP: TOGAF 9 and DoDAF 2.0, By Terry Blevins, Dr. Fatma Dandashi, and Mary Tolbert of MITRE Corporation http://ow.ly/2e1Li

A brief flurry on the brief ‘Spotlight’ presentation by the Open Group’s Archimate Forum:

  • bmichelson: Hey, #entarch types can do marketing! ArchiMate pitch right now. 😉  – http://www.archimate.org/
  • bmichelson: Archimate supports Phases B, C & D of TOGAF ADM
  • aleksb6: RT bmichelson #entarch types can do marketing! ArchiMate http://bit.ly/auvAF2 pitch right now. 😉 <- all we need is an oranje hat
  • bmichelson: Archimate is being extended to provide full TOGAF ADM coverage <but is TOGAF being extended to provide full Archimate coverage?
  • bmichelson: @MartijnVeldkamp The ArchiMate Forum that is part of the open group. Henry [Franken?] the forum leader did the pitching
  • MartijnVeldkamp: @bmichelson I think what I am really saying is that I should have been attending the …
  • ariscommunity: Interesting post  by @adrianrcampbell on combining VPEC-T and ArchiMate http://bit.ly/ch0MJo

In the afternoon, the conference split into four tracks: SOA, security (for which there don’t seem to have been any tweets), ‘professionalising the discipline of EA’, and ‘ecosystem of architects and architectures in the enterprise’. The latter is one that’s of particular interest to me, starting with a presentation by Len Fehskens on ‘Why the “Architecture” in “Enterprise Architecture” must be about essentials’:

  • aleksb6: splitting up from @bmichelson for a bit and sitting in on the #entarch ecology track at
  • aleksb6: up first, a primer on how #entarch can break out of the confines of #IT. and look, #ieee 1471 reference! I won’t be the only one!
  • rsevero: Back to the Conference – “Architecture is 80% about the future.. About the vision of Architecture”
  • rsevero: OpenGroup VP-Mr.Len Fehskens-“Architecture glues Mission with solutions using a specific environment and considering its properties”
  • rsevero: Another great statement from Mr.Len:”Nonessential elements are not part of an architecture” rsevero: identify your binaries decisions
  • rsevero: Mr. Len: more pragmatic, impossible! Great speech, direct to the point…

Still on the ‘ecosystem’ track, Bill Sheleg from Deloitte, on ‘Transforming EA into a Business Discipline’:

  • rsevero: OpenGroup Conference: Mr. William Sheleg: Starting now speaking about  “Transforming EA into a Business Dicipline”
  • rsevero: Mr. William Sheleg – Deloitte: “Today, one of the most important objectives of EA is to improve performance of IT as a function” <but not only IT – please!!!
  • aleksb6: oh boy… the guy from Deloitte made a crack about hiring expensive consultants as to why most companies can’t make strategy work
  • rsevero: “Making strategy work is harder than making strategy”. He pointed 4 pre-reqs to make strategy and a dozen to make it work!

And a few tweets on Walter Stahlecker’s ‘Architecture of the Enterprise: an Holistic View’:

  • rsevero: Here we go: Architecture of the Enterprise,a holistic view-Executives & architects will benefit from architecture with alignment
  • rsevero: Definitively, the theory is different in a practical landscape
  • rsevero: Architecture should NOT have political wars with other areas, otherwise the EA or even the IT Architecture initiatives will FAIL!

Over on the ‘Professionalising EA’ track, Brenda Michelson tweeted Savi Sharma ‘Approach to Design EA Practice to Support Architects throughout the Job Lifecycle’:

  • bmichelson: Savi Sharma, Enterprise Architect, Nike on approach to designing EA Practice that supports architects throughout job lifecycle
  • bmichelson: so this is cool, Nike Inc has program from architect on-boarding through Nike career, includes mentoring, coaching, community etc
  • bmichelson: a nice part of the Nike Inc program is growing architect skills of not just existing architects, but also “architect interested”
  • bmichelson: “architect has to be visionary, designer at heart, and be able to tell story” — architect hiring @ Nike – Savi Sharma
  • bmichelson: this [Nike] is great, Designing an Architect Program, vs. Designing an Architecture Framework Program <– talent mgt FTW
  • bmichelson: We don’t want standard IT managers to manage architects. Grow architects to be architecture managers – Savi Sharma <– +1

Finally, Brenda Michelson delivered her own presentation on ‘6+1 Secrets of Successful SOA’, tweeted by Aleks Buterman:

  • aleksb6: from @bmichelson – 6+1 secrets of successful #soa -> +1 means that we hear 6 secrets, and then some!
  • aleksb6: made the switch from the #entarch ecology track to @bmichelson ‘s Secrets of #SOA track at
  • aleksb6: truism from @bmichelson : anything w an “A” in it (e.g. SOA, EA, EDA, BA…) will have a marketing challenge!
  • aleksb6: #SOA Governance def from @toddbiske “reused” by @bmichelson sounds a lot like our #SOA Governance capability definition!
  • toddbiske: thanks to @bmichelson (and @aleksb6 for making me aware of it* for the mention related to SOA Governance at.
  • aleksb6: now, time for the #SOA panel lead by @bmichelson – real world experience with #SOA, experience gained, lessons learned

That’s it for now: may post another set from the Wednesday sessions – but it seems they’re mostly on cloud-computing, which is not my bag at all. Hope these have been useful, anyway?

Related posts:

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  2. Enterprise architecture – gettin' there at last…
  3. TOGAF Rome conference in Tweets
  4. TOGAF at the crossroads
  5. Enterprise-architecture on purpose

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