Entries for September 2015

In a recent Information Technology discussion group I am involved with, someone posed the question, "What is complexity?" I was surprised by the question as I thought it was understood what complexity was all about. Evidently not. The person posing the question was primarily concerned with complexity in system design...

This article explores strategy mapping as discussed within Business Architecture Guild BIZBOK, and attempts to extend the discussion by defining a set of information and graphical principles that allows strategy to be represented graphically.

The UML Component Diagram along with the complementary UML Deployment Diagram shows how a software solution will be delivered and deployed in the form of interconnected components that interoperate via well-defined interfaces. You can think of this as analogous to how electronic components are wired together, and in this context you should consider that any one component may be replaced by a different but compatible component with no adverse effect.

After doing business analysis in the tech industry for ten years, I’ve spent the last 2 years as a product manager. During this period, I’ve realized there’s more in common between the roles of IT business analyst and product manager than I had expected. On the other hand, there are also some aspects of the job that translate into valuable lessons for any BA interested in increasing the value they deliver to their organizations...

In my view BABOK (Business Analysis Body of Knowledge) v3.0, by introducing the BACCM framework, has provided the world of BAs the equivalent or extension of the famous triple constraints (scope, time and cost) that once revolutionized the project management world. BACCM, in fact, encapsulates the triple constraints and goes beyond by empowering the BA in their daily task to ask fundamental yet powerful questions at every stage of business analysis work.

Whenever I mention I am in the "Systems" business, people generally look at me befuddled, smile, and shake their heads. I can tell they haven't got a clue what I am talking about. Many assume it has something to do with computers, and those in the technology sector assume I am referring to software. Frankly, no.