4 Killer Questions a CIO should ask his people…

1) Do you understand the Organisations Goals and how the IT strategy / Target Architecture helps to enable these ?

2) Do you believe that the IT strategy / Target Architecture will help to enable the Organisations Goals ?

3) Please explain how your activities are helping to achieve the IT strategy / Target Architecture ?

4) What skills do you have to help me achieve the IT strategy / Target Architecture ?

The answers to these 4 questions will help to inform your Communication and Change Management plan - the importance of which is discussed in this interesting blog by Sam Lowe - I will be trying to get along to see him at the Enterprise Architect Open Group Conference in Paris

Governance is NOT the answer

I have just had a major operation on my neck and it now looks like the picture below.


Before the operation I had been having discussion with many people over a number of months about the importance of governance in achieving the benefits of Enterprise SOA.......following the operation I think many people (most of whom sell some kind of Governance Consulting Service) have latched on to Governance not because it is the answer but because it is the easiest thing to consult in without actually having to deliver any working systems (a bit cynical you may think!) – which god forbid might actually solve some real problems and (wait for it) ADD SOME VALUE.

The reasons for this conclusion stems from the drug induced high I was on just after the operation when it occurred to me that I had not just survived the biggest operation of my life because someone "governed" it well (sure it was important that the right people were there and that they had the right tools) – I survived because I had EXPERTS working on me who had TRAINED for YEARS. If you read my blog on SDN about the lack of “real” IT professionals you will start to see what I think is the biggest problem with making SOA work……it is a lack of IT professionals !!!

It is these REAL IT Professionals who have experience, passion and vision that will be able to breath life into your new Enterprise SOA solutions. Nothing of any value EVER happens ANYWHERE if the group of people trying to achieve it don't have passion and vision (experience usually helps but is not a necessity – or we would never achieve anything new). Look at Iraq – the place has about as much Governance as you could throw at a place......but until you have a shared vision of the Target then it will be like nailing jelly to the wall….my advice to the Coalition is spend more time getting the Target vision sorted (it worked in Northern Ireland).

Anyway here is the KILLER question for those of you out there is CIO land…

WHEN YOU LOOK AT YOUR CURRENT TEAM AND YOUR CURRENT “PARTNERS” HOW MANY OF THEM HAVE THE EXPERIENCE, PASSION AND VISION YOU NEED TO ADD VALUE ?

I think you know the answer already :-)

You should promote the ones that do.....or you could commission yet another SOA Governance Study, Define a Charter for your SOA Competency Centre or Implement a Services Repository no-one will ever use.

Enterprise SOA will be achieved through expertise, passion and shared vision.

p.s If you do have a team who has Experience, Passion and Vision – can I have a job ☺

BETA Version or BETTA (BETTER) Version

This is the definition of a BETA version from Wikipedia

"A beta version is the first version released outside the organization or community that develops the software, for the purpose of evaluation or real-world black-box testing."

However thanks to the shop assistant (let's call him Shopii) at the Game Station where I just purchased my Nintendo Wii (for the kids...if you haven't played one you REALLY need to....) I think I have hit upon a better definition.

This is how the conversation went....

Mii - "Do you know what I need to do to get my Wii on-line"

Shopii - "Great news - it is all built in - if you have wireless at home then you are up and running"

Mii - "Cool - this Wii just gets better and better - I had assumed that would need to buy another box"

Shopii - "One word of warning the Browser is a BETA version - which means that it is gonna get BETTA !!!"

Mii - "Cool Dude - Bye (actually I didn't say this bit as I was laughing too much)"

Now I think this is a MUCH better definition of BETA....we are releasing this software to you and it is going to get BETTA...perhaps this is what Microsoft have been doing all the time....we thought BETA meant almost finished....but they meant we need to make it better :-)

Roll on BETTA software....Thanks Shopii