02.28.12
Building Upon Principles
[Cartoon]
What the software industry needs is the same principle-based rigor as other physical construction engineering. We all know the phrase, “Think out of the box.” Then there is Hammer and Chaney that coined the phrase, “If it isn’t broke, break it.” The lesson to be learned is that just because we have always done something one way, it does not mean that there isn’t a better way. But does this approach apply to proven principles?
This “out of the box thinking” has fueled the basics of process reengineering and is the foundation of Six Sigma. The entire premise is that anything can be made better. Ideas can be tested by applying changes and measuring the results.
This approach is somewhat in contrast to principle-based engineering. For example, there may be many ways to build a bridge over a river, but each way has a set of principles that must be followed. The principles are based upon physics and the tolerances of the construction materials used. No one would want to cross a bridge where the builder went outside the box of proven tolerances.
When I was in grade school, an older boy built a bridge over a creek using the stalks of the Sawgrass bush. The stalks look like wooden dowels, but are actually as fragile as paper. He was very proud of his bridge and wanted one of the smaller and therefore lighter boys to give it a try. He picked me.
Even at my young age, I knew the bridge would not hold my weight. Even though the builder of the bridge was bigger and was trying to bully me to cross the bridge, I took a different tact. I admired the bridge he built and assured him that he was the one that should have the honor of being the first to cross. He absorbed it all and stepped onto his bridge. As he crushed his bridge and fell into the creek, I and the other boys ran away.
Having been in the information technology business for many years, I have seen project results that resembled the bridge built by that bully. Externally the software developed looked good, but internally the construction violated basic business principles. When the software was used it crashed and someone’s business operation fell in the creek.
Principles are usually bypassed when a designer has a duct-tape solution to save development time. Since business principles are not absolute and measureable in the same way as manufacturing principles, it becomes easy to apply new approaches without any understanding of the consequences. In manufacturing there are definitive tolerances between making something out of plastic and making something out of steel. In software, these distinctions do not exist. Just because it is a principle in accounting that debits and credits should sum to the same number does not mean that the software must abide by this principle.
The software industry has begun applying ontology languages to capture knowledge. Some of these ontologies specifically capture business principles. These principles are being captured across multiple disciplines and some are incorporated directly into the software as executable components. These ontologies are not boxes to think outside of. They represent the tolerances that any solution must exist within. By staying within our business principles, we can avoid having software that crashes and leaves business operations up the creek without a paddle.
Enterprise Architects are well-aware of the continuing evolution of technology. They creatively look for technology convergence that can provide breakthroughs in thinking. We are at one of those convergent junctions today. What is about to happen will give non-professional information technologists control of their use of automation in their business. No longer will they simply peer through windows and see only what applications let them see. They will be able to go inside, see how things work, and control their automation. – Enterprise Architects Masters of the Unseen City
Closing the Business / IT gap.
