It's been a couple of weeks and everything seems to be going well.
I'm working with an Enterprise Architect. As a sort of junior architect. The boss calls me a Knowledge Management Specialist since we're working on cool stuff like search engines, wikis, knowledge capture and knowledge dissemination. The gig's pretty high in the food chain, but I haven't stepped on my di....um....made a major mistake yet.
Relax. I didn't know what Enterprise Architecture was, either. And no, you don't get to design and build large companies in an artistic way.
It turns out, Enterprise Architects are like BAs, but on steroids.
They ask the questions when someone in a large organization wants to add, improve, replace or remove something. The architect makes sure the IT organization's standards are imposed on new projects at conception. The architect thinks and plans how new technologies will or will not fit and how to scale applications into usable tools. The architect makes sure the data is sourced and accurate (Oracle and SAP anyone?). And that everything is properly licensed, copyrighted and implemented.
The architects shepard projects through the minefield of IT Governance (that's big time talk for who's in charge of the 'puters). After the Architects get the major questions answered, they 'architect' the project. How does it fit into the mix of applications? Where should the database go? What kind of data base should the application use? How do we get the data from point A to point B. Document it. You get the idea.
There are Data Architects, Information Architects, Application Architects and Content Architects. There are probably other Architectural Types I haven't met yet.
The big difference between an Enterprise Architect and a Business Analyst is that as a BA, I was only worried about my project and how my team got its stuff done. This is as it should be.
But suppose the organization has 60-100 project going at any one time and a third of the BAs are like me? You know, Pragmatic and Focused so my boss looks good. Everyone would be pushing his or her project or portfolio. A mess. A chocolate mess (to those younger than Boomer age, that's how M and M Mars used to advertise M&M candy).
On this side of the Project Management Office, we're looking at how these projects support IT plans, objectives and how they fit into the mix of stuff already available. We got that information from the business. Because the business pays our salaries. And we like our salaries. The words 'align' and 'alignment' are used a lot. Align means do it the way the business needs it done to impact the bottom line, not the way you think it should be done.
So the boss wound up the key sticking out of my back (you know, where the recruiter and HR knives went in?) and set me onto five projects. Knowledge Management Projects (I feel like Bill Murray's character in Stripes when the General asks him what kind of training his platoon completed). Short leash (heck, it's only been a couple of weeks) but fun as all get out.
I'm drawing diagrams in VISIO, I'm writing up Business Rules. I'm creating project plans in Excel (having taken the Project course this spring, I'm sticking with Excel until I have to turn out a plan in Project- there's so much crap in that program you never use, it's results are counter intuitive and you can't adjust the defaults- and don't get me started on task numbering!) and having a lot of fun talking to Subject Matter Experts and Stakeholders.
See, I did a lot of KM back in the day. Much of that stuff had to be created custom in the 90s because, at best, folks were collaborating on NetMeeting. Word Docs and Spreadsheets floats around the world. We didn't know from WebEx, GoogleTools, Open Office, Instant Messaging, Twitter, Tweeting, Twisting or Twining.
That's changed. And it's an exciting change. And that's what we're gonna see: How Scot adapts to the Enterprise View and Knowledge Management 2010.
Tune in again, friends. Same Bat Channel. Same Bat time! (for the younger than Boomers out there- that's how the TV Series, Batman, used to sign off on ABC. Jeez, doesn't it suck to have a joke explained?)
I'm working with an Enterprise Architect. As a sort of junior architect. The boss calls me a Knowledge Management Specialist since we're working on cool stuff like search engines, wikis, knowledge capture and knowledge dissemination. The gig's pretty high in the food chain, but I haven't stepped on my di....um....made a major mistake yet.
Relax. I didn't know what Enterprise Architecture was, either. And no, you don't get to design and build large companies in an artistic way.
It turns out, Enterprise Architects are like BAs, but on steroids.
They ask the questions when someone in a large organization wants to add, improve, replace or remove something. The architect makes sure the IT organization's standards are imposed on new projects at conception. The architect thinks and plans how new technologies will or will not fit and how to scale applications into usable tools. The architect makes sure the data is sourced and accurate (Oracle and SAP anyone?). And that everything is properly licensed, copyrighted and implemented.
The architects shepard projects through the minefield of IT Governance (that's big time talk for who's in charge of the 'puters). After the Architects get the major questions answered, they 'architect' the project. How does it fit into the mix of applications? Where should the database go? What kind of data base should the application use? How do we get the data from point A to point B. Document it. You get the idea.
There are Data Architects, Information Architects, Application Architects and Content Architects. There are probably other Architectural Types I haven't met yet.
The big difference between an Enterprise Architect and a Business Analyst is that as a BA, I was only worried about my project and how my team got its stuff done. This is as it should be.
But suppose the organization has 60-100 project going at any one time and a third of the BAs are like me? You know, Pragmatic and Focused so my boss looks good. Everyone would be pushing his or her project or portfolio. A mess. A chocolate mess (to those younger than Boomer age, that's how M and M Mars used to advertise M&M candy).
On this side of the Project Management Office, we're looking at how these projects support IT plans, objectives and how they fit into the mix of stuff already available. We got that information from the business. Because the business pays our salaries. And we like our salaries. The words 'align' and 'alignment' are used a lot. Align means do it the way the business needs it done to impact the bottom line, not the way you think it should be done.
So the boss wound up the key sticking out of my back (you know, where the recruiter and HR knives went in?) and set me onto five projects. Knowledge Management Projects (I feel like Bill Murray's character in Stripes when the General asks him what kind of training his platoon completed). Short leash (heck, it's only been a couple of weeks) but fun as all get out.
I'm drawing diagrams in VISIO, I'm writing up Business Rules. I'm creating project plans in Excel (having taken the Project course this spring, I'm sticking with Excel until I have to turn out a plan in Project- there's so much crap in that program you never use, it's results are counter intuitive and you can't adjust the defaults- and don't get me started on task numbering!) and having a lot of fun talking to Subject Matter Experts and Stakeholders.
See, I did a lot of KM back in the day. Much of that stuff had to be created custom in the 90s because, at best, folks were collaborating on NetMeeting. Word Docs and Spreadsheets floats around the world. We didn't know from WebEx, GoogleTools, Open Office, Instant Messaging, Twitter, Tweeting, Twisting or Twining.
That's changed. And it's an exciting change. And that's what we're gonna see: How Scot adapts to the Enterprise View and Knowledge Management 2010.
Tune in again, friends. Same Bat Channel. Same Bat time! (for the younger than Boomers out there- that's how the TV Series, Batman, used to sign off on ABC. Jeez, doesn't it suck to have a joke explained?)
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