Eliyahu M. Goldratt (1947-2011), an Israeli physicist turned business guru, established a highly esteemed reputation in business planning, through a series of three novels.

The use of novels to explain business and scientific matters was quite original for the time.  The novels were “The Goal” (1984), “Theory of Constraints” (1990), and “Critical Chain” (1997).

Each explored aspects of his theories. His books were among the most controversial and thought-provoking of the closing decades of the 20^th Century.  They also affected Project Management strongly, through his “Critical Chain” thinking.

Business Analysts provide a critical role in organizations.  In fact, without this role, Business Owners and Developers must work together on a software project, which can be frustrating to both sides.  Indeed, Business Owners may not get what they want and Developers may spend time building functionality that was not needed.  OUCH!   Why is that?  Because the Business Owners and Developers have not learned to communicate to their mutual benefit.  Enter the Business Analyst whose role is to define the needs and recommend solutions that deliver value to the stakeholders (e.g., Business Owners, users, customers, etc.)

According to the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) BA’s do the following 

We live in a process powered world and the only thing the customer is interested in is WIFM (What’s in-it for me?). Customers are tired of hearing phrases such as “customer centric” and “world class” and “service oriented”. If your process outcomes are not aligned to the customer’s goals and you do not provide an excellent service (note: not a superior product) – guess what?

How does this affect Enterprise Architecture?

If an organisation doesn’t change its way of developing products for more than 40 years, do we expect that organisation to stay in business for very much longer?

Neuroscience articles are becoming common when looking for new changes in organization change management methods.  These articles shed new light on how organizational change strategy and the approaches being use may need to be modified. Some current change management methods may be causing more harm than good during change efforts.  Learning about neuroscience will shed a new reality on change challenges and change management practices used today.

If the purpose of Government is to serve the needs of the public, as many agree, the main objective of Governance is to ensure that public needs are efficiently, effectively and impartially served.

Governance mechanisms can help to achieve that objective by providing well-defined processes and structures for all aspects of procuring, deploying, and managing the use of government resources. A recent study by the World Bank found a strong relationship between good Governance and good Government performance. Other studies have revealed similar findings[1]. The purpose of this article is to underscore the need for investing adequate resources in (and leadership of) an agency’s Governance processes.