Across the universe

If our model for enterprise architecture is scalable, then it would scale from a small family to the whole earth and beyond. 

Most architects have been using frameworks for medium to large size organisations. I’ve done an example of how to apply EA for a small start-up, but what about the grand design of everything on earth?

Does our EA model scale above organisations and national states?

The laws of physics can’t be broken, but we as architects often are very sure of the excellence of our framework. Often more sure than the scientists.

If we can’t model the real extended enterprise, the solar system, our galaxy and the universe as we know it, then our EA model is not yet perfect. Therefore, we need to be very clear of boundaries and limitations when discussing EA.

Sit tight and access.

Selling, renting or both?

So simple, but still so difficult to understand the difference between selling physical products, services and subscriptions for lots of people in the IT-business.

Selling av physical product like a bicycle is very simple. The ownership of the bike change from the seller to the buyer.

Selling a service like a repair of a bike is rather straightforward. The owner of the bike ask you to repair her bike, an you do the work as a service:

If I rent an apartment is it the landlord who owns the aparment and I have pay a rent every month.

When we introduce copyright and other immaterial right in to the equation is a tad more complex.  We are now selling the rights to use a physical or digital product to be used according to the terms of license. Basically renting for a one time fee, or an subscription like Spotify.

The problem is when you combine different business models as in the example below.

Imagine that I have an bicycle shop, where I’m selling new bikes, used bikes and repair bikes.

One day, a tourist comes in an want to rent a bike for two weeks. I say yes and I now have a new business model. The tourist rents the bike, but also buys a helmet at the same time. To make it more complex for me, she asks to have everything on one invoice. On the way out, she grabs a bottle of Ramlösa mineral water, and want that added to the invoice. The VAT on food is 6% and 25% on the rest of the items.

When she comes back after two weeks, she want to buy this bike instead of returning it. Meanwhile, another customer already booked this bike for tomorrow.

Can you suggest a standard IT-system that could handle his business without custom development?

Architecture is simple

You start your work to identify what you provide to your customers:

• Products

• One time services

• Reoccuring products

• Reoccurring services

and then your customers:

• Individuals

• Organisations

• Retail

• Agents

With only two boxes from a business model canvas, we now have 4 * 4, i.e. 16 options to manage in our IT-systems. Then add four more customer relationships, four more channels and four revenue stream from a business model canvas. We now have 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 * 4 variants for selling our products, i.e. 1024 variants.

If you then add four different types of partners into the mix, you have 4096 variants to implement as end-to-end-flow in your IT-landscape, and this is just one country.

To resolve this complexity in IT for an existing organisation is a very complex task and requires lots of hard work.

Why a proof of concept?

Do we need to make a proof of concept before we start with something new?

If the concept is simple, like playing fotboll, you could just buy a fotboll and start to play. No worries as the cost is very low. Want to try a new, beer? By a bottle or two before you order a crate.

If you instead daughter want to have your own horse to ride, a proof of concept would be very wise, as the consequences if you fail us much bigger.

The next question is what you want to have proof of, and this need some serious thoughts. If we just get proof of our child can ride, we are not verifying the difficult things. Rinding is easy compared to maintain a horse 365/7/24. Therefore it’s the maintenance over time we need to have proof of before we buy her a pony.

If you have a new business model, it’s wise to try out in a small scale, so the proof of concept also works in the business world.

With IT, you can use a PoC to evaluate if a software package is feasible or not. The challenge here with COTS, like with a horse, is to measure the right things.

My recommendation is to verify the things that are hard to change afterwards and drives cost, as integrations, information model and non-functional requirements as performance, security etc.

But a proof of concept is not enough, you also need to look at the total cost of ownership for your IT system or horse to see if you can afford it.

Does agile work in Olympic Sports?

What happens if we use Olympic sports as example, where you start with the sport when you are young and win an Olympic medal as an adult. Does the agile approach with an MVP work?

It’s rather easy for a child to get a football and start playing. This is a very good example of an MVP. If she have talent and a desire to train, she can play in the championships when she is grown up. Small steps to a gold medal, in an agile way.

If your child want to win a gold medal in sailing, the stakes are a bit higher. The first boat is usually a one person sailing boot that even a child can manage. But the cost for the boat is higher than a football and the kid need additional skills like swimming. Not to forget the need for safe waters and maintenance off season.

If you instead of thinking of buying a horse for your offspring, then you agile approach will fail big. The concept of MVP will not work as the skills to manage a horse when not riding is far more demanding than putting the shoes on a shelf after game. If you don’t have the skills to manage the horse fully, then the health of both the rider and the horse are at stake.

This is why you have to think through the concept of what you need to succeed with a MVP.

A football works fine, a small sailing boot is on the verge of what a young teenager can manage on her own. But to buy a horse to a youngster to ride and to take care of if he or she, or the parents, doesn’t have any prior knowledge about horses is really a bad idea.

If you think that you can succeed with a digital transformation with an MVP, it’s time to re-think. It’s much more complex that taking care of a horse.