Skip to main content

Gartner - Driving Innovation Using Pace Layering


Leveraging a "Pace-Layered" Approach to Accelerating Innovation – Jim Shepard

Focus on how companies are using this strategy to drive differentiation – the conversation between biz and IT leaders is not working
Most orgs have a heterogeneous portfolio of apps – legacy, main-frame and new – support huge range of mission critical to low-used, non-critical.
Varying rates of change across apps – pace layering – 1994 "How buildings learn" by Stewart Brand – different parts of building change at different rates
  1. Systems of Innovation – new processes and information (not talking about technology); emerging processes; skunk-works or under-ground typically; couldn’t wait for typical time-frame; experimentation; you should encourage innovation; do it as orderly as possible; very short change cycles; many don't last very long; "light" app development; can't be a complex IT process; some may work out to become enterprise --> rewrite to more enterprise- strength
  2. Systems of differentiation – more rapid change; tend to need more configuration; Marketing = branding, ads, campaigns; QTC = ordering, config, bundling; Supply Chain = delivery tracking
  3. Systems of Record – core records and common processes; eg HR, Finance, Inv Mgmt, Procurement; auditable, legal implications; foundation to the rest of the stack; unstable foundations lead to failure at the upper layers
Common Elements of Connective Tissue – allows interaction between apps in the different layers
  • MDM
  • Process and Data Integration 
  • Biz Service Repository – SOA
  • Security Arch – flexible enough to meet needs of all layers
Governance across the layers
  • One size does not fit all
  • Need three governance models for the three layers
  • Eg – funding model, process change, architecture, development, biz engagement, planning
Establish Realistic Proces and Data Integrity Rules across layers
  1. Create biz/IT group
  2. Break existing portfolio into individual apps
  3. Associate apps with biz process
  4. Assign the apps to the appropriate layer by looking at characteristics
  5. Adapt governance to the specific layer
  6. Build awareness of pace layers in org
  7. Encourage people to think about apps/process based on rate of change
Establish a development process with tools and resources that make innovation easy and fast
Shift some funding from Systems of Records to Systems of Innovation
Develop "connective tissue" to allow innovation to access MDM and call other web services

Recommendations:
  1. move away from monolithic app strategy
  2. Establish standards for connective tissue 
  3. Develop a differentiated strategy for each layer
  4. Drive "new idea" innovations from the top down layer
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

6 Key Steps to a Successful Mobile Apps Strategy

What IT Can Do to Lead a Successful Mobile App Strategy CIO’s are under pressure to deliver business capabilities on mobile devices, all while optimizing budgets, increasing operational excellence, and providing innovative, secure solutions. It’s a complex juggling act. In the mobile space, it’s tempting to just jump in and start building mobile apps. But corporate IT needs to help balance the exuberance of building apps with using a common set of success criteria. This is especially true if the enterprise wants a manageable and successful mobile app effort, defined by usage, adoption and business value. While corporate IT can provide technical design and architecture expertise, even more important is the role they play in terms of coordinating the enterprise mobile app strategy. Here are six key steps for doing so: 1. Create a cross-functional “mobile app working team” This is a group of business and IT team members that are passionate about creating mobile solutions
295 comments
Read more

Quadrennial Energy Review - Jan 2017 (notes)

https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/01/f34/Transforming%20the%20Nation%27s%20Electricity%20System-The%20Second%20Installment%20of%20the%20Quadrennial%20Energy%20Review--%20Full%20Report.pdf "The electricity system we have today was developed over more than a century and includes thousands of generating plants, hundreds of thousands of miles of transmission lines, distribution systems serving hundreds of millions of customers, a growing number of distributed energy resources, and billions of enduse devices and appliances. These elements are connected together to form a complex system of systems." "The electricity sector is, however, confronting a complex set of changes and challenges, including: aging infrastructure; a changing generation mix; growing penetration of variable generation; low and in some cases negative load growth; climate change; increased physical and cybersecurity risks; and in some regions widespread adoption of distributed energy resources
28 comments
Read more

The End of Solitude - Response to William Deresiewicz

I recently read an article by William Deresiewicz titled “ The End of Solitude ”. What prompted me to read the article was an interview with Mr. Deresiewicz that I heard on NPR. During the NPR interview, Mr. Deresiewicz delved into the importance of solitude, being alone and time for self-reflection. Of course, you are naturally drawn to premises that are similar to your own so I listened intently as he contrasted the present with the past regarding the lack of “alone” time that we all face today. Mr. Deresiewicz’s literary knowledge is beyond impressive – he’s an academic and is able to compare and contrast numerous thought-leaders of the past and their views of the value of solitude. In “The End of Solitude” he highlights the importance of solitude that numerous philosophers and famous authors have written about for many, many years. My personal appreciation for Thoreau’s writing, specifically Walden and more specifically “Solitude” and “Economy” immediately came to mind as I read
25 comments
Read more