01.28.10
An IT Microscope
[Cartoon]
Microscopes are a wonderful invention. They have revealed to us a world that we could not have imagined. They have allowed us to peer directly into the fabric of our own bodies and the environment in which we live.
We have been able to study, understand, and alter the microscopic world to our own benefit. Most efforts have been in the prevention of disease. Every year there is a new flu vaccine because there are those that understand disease well enough to determine the characteristics of ever-changing viruses.
The more we learn the more we can control. Without microscopes, surgeons would not know to wash their hands. We would not have vaccines. We would not be looking at stem cells as a way to bring about physical cures. We would not know how to fight cancer or even pneumonia.
This whole understanding of micro organisms can be upsetting. A swab from your mouth placed on a glass and seen through a microscope reveals millions of germs. The dust in your house reveals ugly skin mites. It is enough to make you not want to swallow or lay down on your carpet.
So what about Information Technology? The hardware is visible. The displays of the applications are visible. But the logic and information flow that make up an enterprise’s automated systems environment are as invisible as micro organisms before the microscope.
What might we see if we could visualize all of our enterprise systems? Would this visibility bring us great understanding and control of our environment? Might we be upset by the horrors we did not know existed? Will we be better in the end?
As an Enterprise Architect, I believe that visibility is a game changer making us better in the end. With business management that no longer has a fear of the complexity of IT, they will welcome visibility. Individuals in business today that have grown up with computers would understand and expect more from their business systems. Given this ability to see the systems as they really are would allow a business to navigate and control their use of computing systems in unimaginable ways.
So how does a business get visibility so they can navigate their use of IT? Is there some new microscope device out there to help?
Visibility can be attained by first realizing that an organization is an enterprise of components that work together holistically to provide the services and products to customers. This is the view taken by Enterprise Architects. The view is the Enterprise Architecture.
My personal approach is to make the Enterprise Architecture visible through the use of automated rendering of 2D and 3D diagrams from a repository of the metadata that describes an enterprise. I described this in my book, Enterprise Architects: Masters of the Unseen City. Using this type of visibility anyone can navigate the complexity of IT. Anyone can see the holistic view of strategy, projects, data, business processes, and integrated applications.
The only downside is that businesses will not be able to continue in the current bliss of ignorance. There will be a cry for action as a result of seeing and understanding this currently unseen world. Just like with the microscope, things will be seen as things to avoid and others as things to make better.
Ask your Enterprise Architect about visibility that can be understood by the business. Demand it and change your world for the better.
Closing the Business / IT gap
