| Professionals all over the world in Information | | | | looses its ability to adapt to market changes. |
| Technology are fighting the never ending battle against | | | | Right here, IT Change Management has to change and |
| project creep, missed deadlines and cost overruns. | | | | consolidate with application or process development. |
| The lack of success in doing so seems to indicate that | | | | Ideally, it would already include application or process |
| there is a deeper problem that has to be solved first. | | | | analysis with the resultant documentation that |
| After analyzing customer projects for 20 years, I may | | | | becomes part of the application. Right here, it too |
| have discovered a key element of this problem. Well, it | | | | becomes obvious that state-of-the-art application |
| actually is not a unique discovery, because it is likely | | | | development using programming languages such as |
| that every professional in IT has run into the same | | | | Cobol, Java or C++ with APIs are unable to cope. This |
| situation but has looked at the consequences and not | | | | is where the SOA concept developed that tries to |
| at the cause. | | | | create a flexible definable layer between the front-end |
| It seems that process fragmentation is the root cause | | | | application and the back-end service. But current SOA |
| of most unsolved IT problems. | | | | approaches do not deliver these aspects of Change |
| It starts with the meta-process of IT Change | | | | Management and are built on either Java programming |
| Management that requires that a business application | | | | with UML modelling or jBPEL with BPM modelling. |
| (made up from processes, tasks and actvities itself) is | | | | Extactly that creates another even more complex |
| first analysed, then developed, tested, integration | | | | layer of fragmentation and spoils the potential benefits |
| tested, rolled out and then put into production by | | | | of SOA. Adding additional fragmentation layers such |
| different IT departments that distance themselves | | | | as outsourcing and governance simply does not seem |
| ever more from the business user. Current Change | | | | the right approach to achieve shorter projects and |
| Management has however emerged over many | | | | more agility. |
| years because of a quality requirement that is totally | | | | The application solution is to see business process not |
| unreasonable in its expecations and thus has driven IT | | | | as step-by-step fragments but as a collection of |
| applications off the cost scale. 99.99% availability | | | | business services that do not much more than bundle |
| makes sense for infrastructure but not for a business | | | | and hold the case related business communication and |
| service front-end. It is also not necessary as we can | | | | information content. The content is state/event driven |
| see from Internet use. | | | | and implicitly creates the progression of the business |
| Here a more human problem enters the landscape. | | | | case to its completion. Business professionals must be |
| What is it that management wants from IT? One of | | | | able to interactively define the business services they |
| the interests is higher productivity, meaning that less | | | | need (I propose by recording or training) without the |
| people can achieve a certain amount of throughput. | | | | use of flowchart analysis tools that are completely |
| The second is ensuring the quality of the work | | | | abstract to a business user and do mostly require later |
| performed independant of the people and ideally | | | | use of programming tools anyway. |
| enable an untrained person to perform the work | | | | The current IT process segment of defining and |
| needed. People are in fact put last, and that creates | | | | testing such services (processes) must not be seen |
| the problem for IT. Putting people first - employees | | | | as a programming effort but as part of normal |
| AND customers - would make a world of difference. | | | | business activity. The business department must be |
| People are actually seen seperated from the business | | | | agile enough to provide the input to the power users |
| when they really are the business. | | | | defining services and be willing to test and fine-tune |
| The current approach to the above is to analyse the | | | | such applications. A gradual and interactive |
| business process and encode decision making into rigid | | | | development approach like that it not really new but |
| rules. The resultant simplistic 2D-flowcharts and IF | | | | was first suggested in 1990 as Extreme Programming |
| THEN rules can however not properly represent the | | | | using programming languages. The difficulty of |
| business activity that the user needs to perform his | | | | achieving reasonable system stability with compiled |
| job well and to user satisfaction. It is pretty obvious | | | | languages ended that approach. The project benefits |
| that a fragmented, rigid 2D flowchart cannot represent | | | | of Extreme Programming can however be achieved |
| a 4D event-driven, dynamic world that is not | | | | with an application platform that includes analysis tools, |
| fragmented. Process or application monitoring does not | | | | deployment and monitoring/tuning as part of it‘s |
| help, as it only tells you if the defined processes are | | | | Change Management. |
| executed as defined. Business intelligence might tell you | | | | In short, what IT needs is a defragmented approach to |
| that some expected numbers are wrong but not | | | | Change Management and a defragmented approach |
| where to improve the process. Even if you know how | | | | to creating business services (a.k.a. as processes). In |
| to improve the process, you then need it developed, | | | | fact, that implies that a much further reaching |
| tested and put into production. This loop is long and | | | | consolidation of user frontend processes is necessary, |
| expensive as mentioned before. The business also | | | | and that includes BPM, CRM , ECM and SOA. |