If you ask just about any IT Director, Manager, or even PM, they’ll tell you that Architects are amongst the toughest resources to find.  I’ve experienced this so often either when helping clients build their teams, or when I’ve tried to build them myself.

Architect Boot Camp training was designed to help organizations train their own staff, or to help those in IT who have an affinity towards high end design & IT Strategy, but want to hone or learn Architect Methods, Process and Approach.  The objective is to deliver the theory, while using real life scenarios and then practice through case studies and exercises.

This fall our IT Architect Boot Camp workshop is now full, and we have but one spot left in our Solution Architect Workshop.  We had to move to larger space to deliver the workshops, and I’m sure with the great mix of staff and experience, they’ll be a good experience for all attendees.

If we can’t find architects, we’ve got to grow our own.  We need to optimize our IT dollars, and now more than ever we need to make sure we’re building and designing the right things.  Just ask John Zachman - he’ll tell you that Architecture is the ONLY way we can improve our success rate.  Only three days to go until the start of this first public offering this fall, so this blog entry will have to be short.

By the beginning of November, there will be several more architects ready to provide value to their organizations.  We must applaud organizations who believe that investments in their people are good ones, and won’t be impacted by rough economic times.

Happy Architecting

Monday is as good as any to do something new.  For most, above average.  Well - today I figured I’d **make** the time to move this blog to the Architect Boot Camp site.  Here it is - hope you benefit from it and I do have plans (hopes) to post much more regularly.

What’s new?  I’ve been really busy getting the fall 2008-09 Architect Boot Camp Workshop schedule completed, as well as some drafts on my book and the course ware updated.  I’ve gone with a new set of lab exercises, as well as a lot of more up to date content.  After a recent speech at the Open Group Enterprise Architecture Conference, in Chicago in July, I felt that a more expansive section on TOGAF was warranted.

As well, the Firefli Web Site has been updated with a new blog format, so that I have a hope (and a prayer) of keeping these things up to date!

Upcoming events are detailed on both the Architect Boot Camp site, as well as Firefli.  I will be giving a speech “Good To Great – Paving the Road to Excellence for the Enterprise Architect”at the upcoming Enterprise Architecture Conference, provided by IIR.  More details as they are posted on their site.

Happy Architecting!

Sharon

Boo!

Did you survive the EAC? I am almost caught up on my sleep - just a two hour time change plus flight plus daylight savings time and I’ve turned into Rip Van Winkle. I’m sure I’ll be caught up by tomorrow, but still have lots of miscellaneous thoughts swirling around in this head.

About 18 months ago, I gave a presentation at a Canadian Information Processing Conference, titled “Enterprise Architecture - What Have You Done for me Lately?” It was all about Enterprise Architecture Maturity, and convincing folks that EA was far more that hanging up the Framework and letting the holes and gaps emit light.

This past week, I heard so many points over again that I’d made myself and I wondered how this was possible. I guess it’s just that this stuff makes sense to those who live and breathe it and there are just so many ways to say it. This week I heard all about the “value in the arrows”, or perhaps that’s how I perceived it as it was a scribble I’d noted in the presentater’s note copy that I returned with.

My speech on EA maturity was about adding the linkages as that was where the value was. I guess this is essentially the same. It’s about creating the relationships to add Architecture value. Listing all of the components, technology and hardware only has so much value. It’s when you start to measure it and create the numerous amounts of relationships that you see value.

Something else, strange but true, but I noticed that three of the six panelists on the “Ask the Experts” session on the last day were Architect’s who were former Data Architects, or had written columns in data magazines I’d followed in the 90’s. Well - that’s where my roots are and I wondered if all Information Architect’s had evolved into EA’s. I mean - we were the only ones religious about models in the 80’s and 90’s, so it probably makes sense now, doesn’t it? Boxes and arrows, lines and boxes - whatever it takes to provide value - it’s the way we think and there is no changing that.

My last “Strange but true” thought for this Hallowe’en night - thought it was odd how this year’s new comment addition to John Zachman’s otherwise similar message was that he’d had a complaint about his slides by the conference coordinator. Apparently he’d pointed out to her that he had to continue to return with the same old slides because he had the same old thing to say, and that no one listened to him anyways.

Now - how can one person run around for thirty years trying to get everyone to listen and to follow. Mr. Zachman obviously is tenacious, as he has never given up because he believed. And by the numbers and passion I saw around this subject at this conference, I believe that he will soon be able to retire a very satisfied person.

Well - enough blogging for now. Time to hide the leftover candy and put away the pumpkin.

Boo!

Here I am again, bleary eyes but wanting to share all from this year’s Fall EAC. I have so much to share, and tonight will just have to be a summary. I catch the red eye in 6 hours, and suitcases still have to be filled - you know the drill.

This year was a little different. More keynotes, but fewer messages. The last one was fabulous, so all is not lost. John Zachman has finally admitted there is no silver bullet and still maintains that one day we will all wish we’d filled his magic framework. I’m not arguing but there were more that agreed with me this year that feel practicality is a virtue.

The conference offered two panel sessions this year, and not as a keynote. Great touch - heard some great things except for a 30 minute drone about certifying EA’s. There is much passion about this, but hard to get excited after listening to it around the CIPS ISP. Sort of boring and so far from reality. Perhaps we should work on a common vocabulary as I hear more acronyms that you can imagine for what goes on in the Business Architecture. Reminds me of the early nineties when modeling tools first entered the scene and with a flick of a button you could create a new flavour of the day - all of which equated to a logical or process flow diagram.

There was an increase in both the sessions and numbers of folks who attended the “Build” as well as “Run” Sessions. Good for you! This just means that there are the masses attending the Plan, meaning we still don’t have anything done yet.

The most common question I heard all week was “how do we know when we’ve modelle enough?”. Various answers - deserves a blog onto it’s own - but all it means is that we’re progressing.

Well - have to type more tomorrow - 4 bells come early and I will take a break from this little stanza.

Happy Architecting and Happy Friday!
Sharon

This week will be special - I get to spend a week with other architects at the DCI Enterprise Architecture Conference. Ok - I’m weird - I love to talk about this stuff, but this is like sending a Gambling Addict to a Casino - oh wait -that’s where I am!

Never mind - I tried those slot machines and any way you slice it - you will lose. Bet the farm on EA and you will win. It’s exciting - I get to talk to some of the smartest people around about the coolest projects, and learn at the same time. Today was just the “opener” - a new CD to peruse, and some sessions to pick from, as well as a vendor presentation.

Now - I might be biased, but no matter how many vendor presentations you attend, you have to agree - there are some gems of info amongst them. Today I listed to Telelogics’s presentation on what they have to offer the Architecture Tools space. Always interesting, as the EA’s that I know are incredibly demanding and always want one more thing that no tool does. This was an interesting approach - buy the pieces you need to fill your gaps, intelligently - like an EA would do it themselves.

Now - don’t get me wrong - I’m not condoning their tools - if you know me - I don’t do that. But I like to see the good or best of breed where credit is due, and it looks like they’ve approached it in another manner. I’ll be interested in visiting the vendor fairs tomorrow to see if I can see at a glance where the rubber meets the road.

If not, I’ll definitely tell you to save your money. If we’re lucky - it’ll make the hopeful list and give us Architects a chance to automate some of our work.

Until tomorrow

Sharon