Services serve the needs of someone. Disservices purport to serve the needs of someone, but don’t – they either don’t work at all, or they serve someone else’s needs. Or desires. Or something of that kind, anyway. And therein lie …

Services and disservices – 5A: Social example (Introduction) Read more »

Services serve the needs of someone. Disservices purport to serve the needs of someone, but don’t – they either don’t work at all, or they serve someone else’s needs. Or desires. Or something of that kind, anyway. And therein lie …

Services and disservices – 4: Priority and privilege Read more »

Services serve the needs of someone. Disservices purport to serve the needs of someone, but don’t. And therein lie a huge range of problems for enterprise-architects and many, many others… This is the third part of what should be a six-part series …

Services and disservices – 3: The echo-chamber Read more »

Services serve the needs of someone. Disservices purport to serve the needs of someone, but don’t – sometimes through incompetence or failure in operation, sometimes through incompetence in service-design, and sometimes even by intent. And therein lie a huge range of problems …

Services and disservices – 2: Education example Read more »

Services serve: they serve the needs of someone, or, in a broader ecosystem, the needs of something. Services serve – that’s why they’re called ‘services’. Yet what do we call something that purports to serve some need, but doesn’t? I’d suggest …

Services and disservices – 1: Introduction Read more »

There are a fair few business-model patterns out there that look really great, really profitable – and yet conceal fundamental flaws that can kill the business outright. (Or, in some cases, it’s not just the business that gets killed… – …

Hidden risks in business-model design Read more »

I’ve long been a fan of Alex Osterwalder’s work. There can be no doubt that he’s had a huge impact on business-architecture – particularly for startups – with tools such as his Business Model Canvas  [BMCanvas] and, more recently, Value …

What’s the scope of a business-model? Read more »

I’d often wondered why I always seem to have such a visceral response to hearing a woman say “I don’t work, I’m only a mother”. What do you mean by “only”? – why would anyone deride it so? And what do …

Idea-parenting Read more »

There we were, my colleague and I, discussing the possible merits and value for me of going to yet another conference. This time business-architecture rather than ‘enterprise’-architecture, and reasonably-priced too – unlike so many conferences these days. Looked good. Yet …

Two words Read more »

For any organisation that’s in the public-eye, a co-branding deal sounds like a perfect win-win: you get a pile of useful cash merely for letting someone put up a load of posters around the place. What could possibly go wrong …

Hidden perils of co-branding Read more »