Articles

Using Business Architecture to Design Future Industries

Author(s):

Simona Lovin

Director of Operations and Strategic Initiatives, Leidos

Have you heard the news? Space has become Big Business. Currently evaluated at around $350 billion, studies done by investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch predict that the global space economy could grow to $1 trillion or more in the 2040s.

The signs that space has gone mainstream are in plain sight. Stephen Colbert and Neil deGrasse Tyson are riding around New York City in a Mars rover… Iridium Communications is planning to launch its final Iridium NEXT satellite using a flight-proven Falcon 9 Block 5 booster… Elon Musk’s rocket company is sending a Japanese billionaire and eight artists around the moon… The news making headlines in the social media are only the tip of the iceberg. Below the waterline, the space industry (appropriately called “New Space” – to distinguish it from the 20^thcentury “old space”, which was mostly the domain of governments) is a place teeming with exuberance and ideas.

Changing the Organizational Leadership DNA to Support a Digital Business

Author(s):

Samantha BureauJohnson

VP, PMO and BPE, BCBSNC

“You can change everything about your business by changing your thinking about your business” – Zig Ziglar

Every day, I get up inspired and passionate about the opportunities in front of our company, to “Improve the health and well-being of our customers and communities”. This is our rallying call, our lifeblood, and our purpose that fuels our passion. This is the WHAT we are here to do, as we serve our State, as a Health Insurer with a mission and vision of service.

Being clear in the WHAT, with a strong mission, vision and strategy, is an important foundation. Equally important is the HOW we are going to get there. I have the privilege of leading the teams that serve as the Enterprise Business Strategy Activation arm and several change initiatives that are shifting how we think about the business.

Are Your Processes Hi-DEF?

Author(s):

David Hamme

Managing Director, Ephesus Consulting

Leading an organization requires managers to periodically take a step back and assess the organization’s operations to truly see the cards they have in their hand. An awareness of the current situation gives managers that critical understanding of their strengths and their deficiencies – necessities when plotting a future course of action. Without such knowledge, any strategy or plan floats without connection to reality and this is a surefire way to ensure confusion and chaos reign in the employee ranks.

Gemba Walks – A Foundational Methodology in Enterprise Excellence Deployment

Author(s):

Rick Hepp

Trainer, Coach & Mentoir for Enterprise Excellence, Consultant and Trainer

As Part of a Business Transformation and Enterprise Excellence strategy, how can the methodologies & tools of Operational Excellence be integrated into Business Strategy?

Business Architecture – A New Depiction

Author(s):

Richard Hillier

Mr, IBM UK (Formerly)

This paper discusses a new depiction of Business Architecture within Enterprise Architecture to bring clarity on how Business Architecture relates to other Architecture domains & to Business Planning.

The Future-Proofing Business Architect: Lessons from the Field

Author(s):

Dean Heltemes

Senior Director, Ameriprise Financial

“It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.” – Winston Churchill

The Value Creation System

Author(s):

Simona Lovin

Director of Operations and Strategic Initiatives, Leidos

“The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.”(Peter Drucker)

This article proposes a conceptual framework for describing business organizations as complex systems, much like live organisms, whose parts function in an orchestrated manner for the sole purpose of creating customer value.

The impetus behind it was the growing realization that while most business publications focus on the tactical aspects of running a business (the “how” of the business), few tackle head-on are the foundational principles of strong business models (the “why” of a business).

Choosing the Right Methodologies, Tools and Techniques (as appropriate) in Enterprise Excellence Deployment

Author(s):

Rick Hepp

Trainer, Coach & Mentoir for Enterprise Excellence, Consultant and Trainer

As Part of a Business Transformation and Enterprise Excellence strategy, how can the tools of Operational Excellence be integrated into Business Strategy?

Maximizing the Value of Your Product Backlog (Part Two)

Author(s):

Jamie Cooke

Managing Director, Both Hemispheres, LLC

The Product Backlog is the heart of defining any Agile solution. The requirements that are identified in the Product Backlog drive the priorities that the Agile development team works on, they establish the scope of the delivered solution, and they ultimately determine the business value that the organization will receive from their Agile investment.

Deploying Metrics in an Operational Excellence Initiative

Author(s):

Marvin Wurtzel

Faculty Member, BPMInstitute.org and Principal Consultant, Marvin M. Wurtzel & Associates, Inc.

Implementing operational excellence so that the organization benefits is an important question that needs close examination. An operational excellence initiative requires many elements. The model requires the implementation of:

1. Program—What are you deploying and how will you manage it?

2. Leadership—How will leadership lead the program?

3. Processes—What will you be improving?

4. Measurements—How will you know when you are successful?

5. Projects—How will improvement work be parsed into actionable and manageable units?

6. People—After these steps have been thoroughly planned and evaluated, what you have learned will be the foundation for:

7. Strategy—How will you deploy the initiative?