Translate

September 30, 2013

5 Reasons why TOGAF Certification could be a waste of your time

Okay, first of all: TOGAF is an acronym and I have strong feelings about acronyms. See my previous post on this Dogma of Acronyms.

With that out of the way, I also want to make clear that I am a great proponent of architecture and I think that understanding, that is Understanding, of the principles behind TOGAF and how to apply TOGAF within an enterprise environment is very useful.

It's just that certification is a waste of time. And in this post I will provide 5 reasons in an arbitrary order, why it's a waste of time. And because the order is arbitrary, I won't number the reasons so you'll have to count them yourself.
  • Enterprise Architecture is an activity and todo it right, to master this activity, takes practice. As the proverb goes; Practice Makes Perfect. Certification is a hoax from this perspective, since it doesn't require you to be an experienced architect that knows the specifics of TOGAF. It requires you only to know the specifics of TOGAF. Since the role of the architect is the most senior role in IT, in my humble opinion and many HR managers agree with me, being certified should take this into account.
  • TOGAF covers to broad an area to be applied within an enterprise. TOGAF covers the complete enterprise and although I completely agree with this coverage, leading from business aspects all the way down to IT through Organization etc, this is hardly applicable in an enterprise. Typically TOGAF is done by IT people. Huh? Yes, by IT people, and this is due to the fact that the role of architect is typically an IT role. And on top of that, it was invented because there were too many senior IT people that sucked as managers. So in order to get them higher pay grades they became architects. And yes, there's the irony, architect are supposed to manage projects and programs on a technology level. Uhm, uh... what's happening here?
  • TOGAF is based on best practices, models and notations. So it means absolutely nothing unless you fully understand your enterprise, its current state, where it wants to go and so on. Just like ITIL, being certified has no value to the company you're working at, what has value is you understanding what's good for the enterprise and what's not. Which means that you need to be engaged not certified. 
  • Being an architect means you need to be able to communicate, and more importantly, you need to be a sales person. Being a successful architect means that you can sell an idea and in contrast to many sales people, also need to ensure delivery once you've sold it. As the architect is the most pro-active techie in the enterprise, having a long term view and a solid idea as to how to get there with steps that need to be taken immediately, you have to get that mindset. No TOGAF course teaches you how to become a great sales person, so don't think you'll be a certified sales person either.
  • Everybody who wants to be an architect and has some time available gets TOGAF certified these days. Darn, I was thinking about it myself when it seemed as if my contract wouldn't be extended. Very similar to the Java certifications in 2003/2004 when the IT job-market was down in Europe. Unlike that time, I see that at interviews CV's of those that are TOGAF certified are scrutinized for experience that matches the claim of being knowledgeable because certified. I think that having done the training but not getting certified is better than being certified as it shows that you got the theorie, but don't claim the experience.
Unfortunately not many HR managers understand this and allow IT managers to send their staff en-masse to TOGAF training. Staff being certified are returning to enterprises that are not ready for enterprise architecture. Hard cash spend on training but no cash spend on following this through. I think for any company it is better to decide on a strategy and follow up on it from the various manager levels and support it by sending the right people to the right training.
In  my humble opinion, Enterprise Architecture and consequently all methodologies related to it is too mutch of the good stuff for many enterprises. For most of the enterprises I encountered. It's a maturity thing and as with us mere humans having to go through infancy, childhood, puberty before becoming adults, if at all. The same goes for organizations.

So dear HR manager, think first if your organization is actually mature enough and needs Enterprise Architects before you send your best resources to training and certification.
It is my experience that you should send your staff to training to improve your enterprise, and to certification to improve your staff. And at all times, you send them to training and certification if you choose so, that is relevant... in the short, mid and long term.

As always, thanks for reading this post and please comment when you see it differently. Diverse opinions make for clearer perspectives.

Iwan

September 20, 2013

BYOD - Bring Your Own Disaster

Just to be clear, it's not a typo.
First of all, let me explain something. Over the past year or three I have heard a lot about BYOD and in most cases the acronym stood for Bring Your Own Device. And although I've been bringing my own device since very long, since about 2003 at several customers it has always been a problem to actually use my own device.
So yes, we've been able to bring our own devices, but actually using the device at our job doesn't really go beyond reading your email and accessing your calendar. Granted, sharing contacts between your device and the corporate is there as well.
I've had discussions with many subject matter experts from the leading software vendors regarding this topic (IBM, HP, CISCO, Microsoft), and interestingly enough the struck me that although they all have their tools ready to be sold to their customers to facilitate a BYOD policy, within their own ranks their policy was in all case more a matter of CYOD, or Choose Your Own Device.
Okay, so let's see what we're talking about here. Within the corporate environment there are basically 3 models possible (mind these are models):
  1. Everything is provided by the enterprise. So you get your IT equipment from your employer and he takes care of everything, including payment of the hardware and its maintenance. You work in the office and that's where you keep your stuff. When your employer decides that you should be able to work from home, you get a laptop and you can work offline from home. Or in fact you can log into the corporate network using a VPN so you can access your files and maybe even your applications, although they're in most cases installed on your laptop. 

  2. You get all the computer equipment you need and your employer handles everything. But because laptops are more expensive than desktops and because laptops are also harder to maintain, because you never know when they're available for maintenance, you're allowed to work from home on your own personal desktop and in case you've got a laptop... well that's even more practical as you can work from any location from which you can setup a VPN connection to the corporate network. Most likely you've installed some software yourself and by means of a USB drive or some other external storage. Hey, maybe even dropbox! You just have to make sure that you're running some OS that is supported by the companies admins and meanwhile you keep the anti-virus and other such software on your system.

  3. Then as a last model, there's the option to use whatever device you have to connect to the corporate network and do whatever it is you do to accomplish your tasks. You connect to your employer's network through the internet, either via a wired, a wireless or a mobile connection. (Yes, I know that a mobile connection is also wireless). In this last model, you bring your own device and not so much your own computer. There's a big difference.

  4. So now what's the relevance of all this. Well mainly it's got to do with risk. There are a number of different risks involved here that are less relevant in model 1, a bit more so in model 2 and significant in model 3.
    So let's cut to the chase and do some business here. As we want to get onto the Disaster part of BYOD.
    One of the more obvious risks of course in these models is the risk of data leakage. Both intended and unintended. With the topic of data leakage you're also bound to include leakage prevention and that is widely considered a security aspect of an IT environment. Apart from technology that can be applied, there is also a lot of organizationals aspects to this. I'm not getting into this. Not in this post.
    The thing about Data Leakage Prevention from a technology perspective is all about control. Mainly control over where the data is stored and where data is communicated from and to. Basically, if you control where it is stored and you have full control over this location, you can just prevent anybody from accessing it and there's no risk of leakage... in an ideal world, I know. It also means that you control when it is accessed and if you control the communication lines, you also control what is communicated. Basically this is the strength of model 1. In model 2, you have less control over where it is stored and when and how data is communicated, but there are still plenty technologies and solutions available to apply sufficient control at an acceptable cost to prevent, to a degree, data leakage. A weak link in this chain is the fact that it is fairly simple to loose a USB drive and with that data. Whether intentionally or not.
    It gets a bit more interesting when working on your own device. Yes you can loose that tablet or smartphone, but there's another thread that's more significant on your own device than it is on your own computer and that's the thread of malware.
    The interesting part of devices is that they are technically not really mature. New devices are popping up every few months, new operating systems, new capabilities etc etc. And in addition to this, their storage is almost limitless, by that it is very limited. So most people that use devices also use cloud solutions for storing their data, in many cases the corporate's data.
    But this is all just a matter of potential compromises and risk calculations. Yu accept the risk, there's no problem. But most companies can't handle certain data to get out on the street, or at least that's what they think.
    Like I said, it's all risk based and security threads should be looked at from a risk perspective. Looked at from the perspective of what are the chances that it happens and what is lost when it happens. This requires a certain level of organizational maturity. A movement that has just started, hence not many organizations are ready to handle security in this way. Oh yes, they may have completely adopted the risk-base approach to security, but they're far from having classified all the threats and defined the proper counter measures to avert the threats or mitigate the risks. Thus 'Lock down' is still what happens, until we're ready, is what's being said.
    Yup data leakage is a problem and with your own devices this is even more of a problem but predominantly because we want to lock our data down because we can't act on the security risks from a threat-classification perspective. So we put a lock on the data, which means we put a lock on the devices. And since it's your own device, your boss is putting a lock on your device... in vain in most cases as either the technology is not adequate or is not yet developed for your device. Ah, let's not forget about the variety of all devices. All the different PC operating systems, the various mobile platforms, the various versions of each platform, the capabilities of devices and the variety of ways they can connect.
    The disaster kicks in when the CSO (Chief Security Officer) and her underlings are confident they're on top of it. Because they never are. And at the first breach of their defenses, typically moments after a device is brought into the organization, you've Brought Your Own Disaster. Mind that the breach doesn't have to be a disaster in itself, but a breach of security in an environment where threats are dealt with in throwing technology at them and lock things down, ... well you get the drift.
    Data Leakage is interesting, but there's more to the disasters that can happen by Bringing Your Own Device.
    Think about compliance. Who's going to pay for all the licenses of the software installed on your devices? And who is going to ensure that you work with the right versions or even applications? Even though there are open formats doesn't mean that they're completely embraced by enterprises. In fact, I know way more organizations that keep all files in proprietary formats like Microsoft Office formats, the old ones, instead of the open XML based formats. And this is just an example of programs for which there are open formats that are supported by free (as in free beer) programs.
    Since it's your own device, you're supposed to get the licenses yourself in many cases. And why would you pay for them where you can get them for free (as in illegal downloading free) from the Piratebay? Btw, I don't condone piracy.
    Yet, since you use those programs for your work and when in the office even within the corporate's network, there's a compliance issue.
    Again, people responsible for the various security aspects in the enterprise, including compliance aspects want to take the risk-based approach to this, but until this is in place, they revert to technology to ensure that you won't have any non-compliannt, read pirated, software on your device. There's an interesting aspect to this; Typically there's a policy in place that's supposed to prevent you from putting pirated software on your device. This policy is defined in terms of technical counter measures based on some tool that will probe your device and delete everything it deems not in accordance with the policy. Of course this can only work when you device supports this, in every aspect, including you allowing it to support this.
    Again, by putting pirated software in the office by means of bringing your own device into the office and use it to do your job, disaster has been brought to the office. True, this is also not always resulting in your employer's bankruptcy or something even more serious.
    Actually, to be honest, the Disaster in Bring Your Own Disaster is not referring to the problems you're causing with your own device, it's the disaster of managing these devices, which is something that is just impossible at this point in time with technology, considering the multitude of devices, types of devices, operating systems, platforms, capabilities etc. It can only be handled by having implemented risked-based security. Which is something that requires a lot of organizational changes, and change in mindset as well.
    This is why most enterprises are actually reverting to a Choose Your Own Device strategy. Out of a pre-selected and manageable set of devices ranging from phones to tablets to desktops and laptops, you're allowed to pick the ones you want to use, as an extension of the office.
    Thanks for reading, and as always, please let me know your thoughts about this topic.
    Iwan


September 18, 2013

The Awesomeness of the Process

Hi,

It's been a while, but here's another blog post on IT Architecture and anything that comes close.
I remembered today while waiting on the train to go home, after a meeting in which we, a bunch of architects, came to the exact same conclusion as we've done several times in the past two or three weeks. Namely, it's all about the process if you want to do it right. Check my earlier posts and you'll find out that I actually think that the process is significant.

Anyways, I was waiting for the train and while reiterating what was said during that meeting and afterwards made me remember what one of my professors told us in either the 2nd or 3rd class on databases, or rather on Information Analysis:

"Always remember that you should only store in a database that what you want to get out".

Because we used NIAM as the modeling technology and this was in the earlier nineties, this made perfect sense because in those days reporting systems were the most important IT systems with SAP and BAAN dominating the ERP arena (I know I'm not doing any justice to either one of them) and NIAM is extremely about reporting. (Again, I know I'm not doing it any justice by stating it like this.)
Okay, so lets get back to our meeting today, well actually, let's get back to my opinion of processes. I'm honestly a big fan of Business Process Management, mainly because they define a business and they make IT worth our while... unless you love playing games because IT always makes computer games possible.

The main part about BPM are the processes. The interesting thing with processes is that they, when defined correctly do exactly define what the sequence of activities is to get something done, who is responsible for each single activity and who is accountable. And, and this is where it gets interesting in the context of this post, what is needed to start and do the activity and what the outcome is.
The beauty of this is that it allows you, if you keep this in mind, to ensure that any actor for any activity only gets the information she needs to perform her task. Especially in those activities where somebody needs to review, accept or verify something this is extremely valuable as it ensures that she is not overwhelmed with large complex documents.

I have worked in many organizations around the globe in a multitude of different verticals and markets. Always there was some sort of process in which one or more entities within the organization had to accept either a document, an architecture or some code if not an application that was to be put in production. The hardest part in these processes was to convince people that it was perfectly fine for them to receive more information than they needed and that you were relying on their expertise to filter out the information they were looking for. This because the document they were handed was a living document and as the process went on, it would grow and mature.

Of course this is complete bullshit, living documents don't exist and since they're written, or supposed to be written by a variety of people with different views and backgrounds the quality is poor at the best in most cases. But there're many reasons why we, including myself, are settling for the one big document. For one, it always does seem to be convenient. Just one document to be maintained, one template to be developed, one artifact to be communicated.

Then there is the reason that we're all very poor in defining requirements, even requirement engineers, so we find it very hard to define what we exactly need to do our job, how we need that delivered and in what format. So the document that holds everything is very suitable.

Working on a process and defining all activities,mother responsible and accountable actors as well as the input and output for every activity can be very boring or at least seem to be very academic. A paper exercise, and a since we all love the tangible, well all the sane people I know, we are easy to digress and move to the concrete with documents and diagrams. Letting go of the process and concentrate on the artifacts. Remember, we tend to fix problems in the infrastructure instead of the application, mainly because we can touch it and hold it and it is easy to budget and plan. Not because that's the best place to fix the problem.

This is more so for the managers of the departments that are impacted by such a process. When they're not aligned and don't define the areas of their responsibility and accountability, preferably without overlap and without gaps. Yup there's a challenge. It will be very hard to point out who is acting in what capacity during which activity.
Management buy-in is a prerequisite even to start working on the process. And with proper alignment of the management, it will become a simple as life exercise to define the process.

There is the problem of the man documents to be managed, or rather the many products to be managed. Some are input and some are output. But when you keep in mind that output always has to be input for some activity, you can state that there is always only input to be considered. But that brings with it, that you need a rock solid system for managing all these products. And no, a file-server or email system doesn't cut it. What you need, at the very very least is a collaboration platform that has document management in it, but preferably you have a Business Process engine that manages your process. In this context I don't mean a document management system that allows you to define a document flow. No sir, I mean a process engine that allows to attach products to the process.

Now forget about the bureaucratic formalities of a business process and documents and templates and responsibilities and accountability and actors and all that stuff. Instead think about your job. Your role in the organization you work for and the activities you're supposed to do. Wouldn't it be awesome if you would be provided with all the information and all as soon as somebody would ask you to do something? A situation in which you would know exactly what information you're supposed to dig up yourself to do your job and what information you need handed to you? At all times?
Well if your answer is "YES" than you want to experience the awesomeness of the process, because this is exactly what it is about.

And it's not just a hollow promise. No, it's something that comes out of the box when you define the process not based on the information that can be provided, but what has to be provided. When you ask the responsible person what he needs to complete an activity instead of just throw all you have at him and have her figuring it out herself.

One last thought on this topic before I conclude; You never define a process that is perfect, you perfect a process that is defined. So it is correct to think seriously about what the process should be and than adjust it as you apply it. Basically the idea behind Lean.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and think you can benefit from it. Don't hesitate to comment. As always, different views paint a clearer picture.

Iwan