2010 February | Enterprise Architecture in Higher Education

An Evolution for My Eyes Triggers Some Thoughts

enterprise architecture, personal No Responses »

Feb 242010

On Friday February 19, 2010, I underwent laser eye surgery (Intralase Sub-Bowman’s Keratomileusis) to correct my short sightedness. I have worn glasses since I was 6 years old and contact lenses since I was 16. Over the past 15 years, I developed an allergic reaction to the protein buildup on the contact lenses and had to restrict my use to sports only. This is a quantum leap forward for me and I am floored by the results – no more glasses! Thank you to my surgeon, Dr. Suren Sanmugasunderam, FRCS (C) and his team at London Eye Centre.

The evolution from squinting to see, to having thick, then thin lens glasses to contact lenses and now to laser eye surgery led me to think more about several topics:

Problem Management – as described by IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL):

A `problem’ is an unknown underlying cause of one or more incidents, and a `known error’ is a problem that is successfully diagnosed and for which either a work-around or a permanent resolution has been identified.

As a child, I squinted because I did not know that I needed vision correction (unknown underlying cause). My opthamologist successfully diagnosed that I was short sighted with astigmatism. The workaround he prescribed were prescription glasses. Now glasses helped modify the root cause of my vision problem but did not fix it. Contact lenses were the next evolution of glasses but still did not address the root cause. Finally, my laser eye surgery procedure modified my eyes by vapourizing microns of cornea cells to correct the root cause providing a permanent resolution.

How often do we consider a work around good enough? Once the work around is in place do we just get used to the added complexity without attacking the root cause? Do we take the time to really look for a root cause and think of ways to permanently resolve it. Enterprise Architecture and ITIL together provide the framework and processes for us to travel this road. Making time to review what we have done in the past is important so that we can move our enterprises forward with a solid foundation.

Manage Complexity – Complexity as described by Roger Sessions (@RSessions):

I use the word “complex” to mean an entity that has more “complexity” than needed to do what it is intended to do. By “complexity” I mean the number of internal states. Read more...

Mentorship … we need to do more of this

education, leadership, personal No Responses »

Feb 232010

I was fortunate to be asked to participate as a mentor to a Computer Systems student in our Bachelor of Technology program this fall. This is a real honour and something that I value having the opportunity to do.

I graduated from BCIT in 1987 and the skills taught me by my instructors and my classmates set the tone for my career. Thanks to the BCIT Alumni Association and the BCIT Student Association for this opportunity.

Below is an interview I gave in the student newspaper, The Link:

Interview: BCIT Mentor Leo de Sousa

February 18, 2010 by thelinknewspaper

Leo de Sousa may have a background in IT Services, but his advice on life – and how to balance – it can translate to students in any field

Long days. Late nights. Extra hours. Group projects. Debt.

BCIT students have a, shall we say, unique experience. For many, it’s the toughest period of their lives. Following dreams and getting credential many times means going in the hole financially and giving up life as you know it to pursue studies. It’s a big step, a big risk; you name it.

One of the best things a student can do is to talk to someone who has already experienced the very same life. Learning to cope and making adjustments can be hard to think of, but what I’ve found helps the most is talking to someone who can shed some light on what they would have done differently as a student.

So, meet Leo de Sousa. He’s a Computer Systems grad of 1987, and went on to work various jobs including for the Lions Gate Hospital (which he was offered upon graduation) and the Forest Industry. He made his way back to BCIT in 1992, and has been working in the Information Technology Services department since. His current title is the Manager of the Business Application Services and Enterprise Architecture, which also means he is in a position to hire.

Our chat was very informative, and although I feel my choice of BCIT studies (broadcast journalism) is almost the polar opposite to CST, what de Sousa said really inspired me to get better at balancing life at BCIT.

How did your time as a BCIT student help you in your future endeavours?

BCIT makes you focused on the skills you need to be successful, especially in your first job. What we did – and I think it’s still true today – we worked in teams all the time. You really start to build not only hard working skills for yourself but team work skills. If you’re a letter carrier, delivering to people’s homes, maybe you’re not on a team. But pretty much everywhere else, especially for the jobs and the skills BCIT trains their graduates for; you’re always in a team environment. So it was perfect for that. Read more...

Enterprise Architects – What attributes do you look for?

enterprise architecture, leadership 9 Responses »

Feb 142010

Building on my previous post Starting Your EA Practice – What roles would you pick?, this post looks at attributes of individuals and suggests some that have worked in our strategic practices of which Enterprise Architecture is one.

When my colleague and friend, Dave Cresswell and I started working towards building an EA practice, we coined the name “Strategic Practices”. Disciplines like Enterprise Architecture (Business Analysis/Architecture, Solutions Architecture), IT Security, Project/Program Management and Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery (Risk Management) cut across all areas of an organization are all represented in the Strategic Practice group.

First we discussed the difference between skills and talents. Skills are critical for us to deliver services and it is management’s responsibility to ensure the people in their care have the skills to perform their duties. I put as strong focus on personal learning plans for my team to ensure that together, we plan to keep them current and advancing in their chosen field.

Our belief is that Talent is significantly more important than Skills – skills can be taught, talent is something a person brings with them.

Skills (examples)

create complex technical solutions
creating structured documents
manage structured processes
utilize complex tools
analytical skills (added Sept 12, 2010 – thanks to Doug Newdick @dougnewdick)
technical skills
writing
logic

Talents (examples)

conceptualization – explaining complex ideas
enterprise perspective – big picture thinking
innovation – willing to try and fail
facilitation – consensus building
leadership – creating a vision and guiding people
communication – listening as well as presenting

As we looked for people to fill the roles, we needed a way to describe what “type” of person we thought would be successful as a “Strategic Practitioner”. To start we identified two types of people 1) the specialist and 2) the generalist. Neither quite fit our picture of a Strategic Practitioner. Below are the attributes for each role type:

The Specialist

deep skills and experience
narrow scope (domain)
peer respect and recognition
unknown outside their domain (few interactions)

The Generalist

shallow skills and experience
broad scope (multi-domain)
lack of peer respect and recognition
widely known (many interactions)

What we needed was a blend of both the specialist and the generalist – the strategic practitioner! This is a very hard person to find. I really believe organizations need to create career development programs to help develop these attributes.

The Strategic Practitioner