The Value of Business Architecture

Align Technology and Business Strategy In the 1960’s and 70’s information technology was perceived as a support organization that minimized cost by automating labor intensive business functions, especially in areas like finance, accounting, and payroll. Today, not only is IT the digital fabric that connects the enterprise together, it also plays a pivotal role in […]
Aligning Business Value: We Need A Common Language

Language is our most important tool as human beings. It is essential to our interactions and has the ability to bridge gaps created by space, time, and culture. Unfortunately, in our organizations, language can be a burden, exacerbating those gaps and even widening the chasms that have formed organically between lines of business, teams, and […]
The Time Is NOW: An Executive Summary For Leaders

During the spring, as the coronavirus spread, changing modern life and work as most of us have known it, we were all required to mobilize and transform at a scale and pace not previously imagined. Enterprises that were in the process of transforming before the pandemic have fared better during this disruption than those that […]
Leading the Acceleration of Digital Transformation Part 8: The WHO – Reimagining The Frontline Workforce

REIMAGINING THE FRONTLINE WORKFORCE This is the final post of a series, where I’ve been using the framework of WHY, WHAT, HOW, WHO from my book Blind Spot: A Leader’s Guide To IT-Enabled Business Transformation – enhanced with stories and analogies – to help business leaders to understand the Digital and IT transformation journey in […]
Leading the Acceleration of Digital Transformation Part 7: The WHO – Structure, Leadership, Culture, Workforce

THE TEAM WITH THE BEST LEADERSHIP WINS. This is the seventh part of an ongoing series, where I’m using the framework of WHY, WHAT, HOW, WHO from my book Blind Spot: A Leader’s Guide To IT-Enabled Business Transformation – enhanced with stories and analogies – to help business leaders to understand the Digital and IT […]
Leading the Acceleration of Digital Transformation Part 6: HOW Do We Get The Value For Our Investments?

This is the continuation of the fourth part of an ongoing series, where I’m using the framework of WHY, WHAT, HOW, WHO from my book Blind Spot: A Leader’s Guide To IT-Enabled Business Transformation – enhanced with stories and analogies – to help business leaders to understand the Digital and IT transformation journey in very […]
Leading the Acceleration of Digital Transformation Part 5: HOW Accounting Practices Shaped Our Legacy IT “Hairball”

This is the continuation of the fourth part of an ongoing series, where I’m using the framework of WHY, WHAT, HOW, WHO from my book Blind Spot: A Leader’s Guide To IT-Enabled Business Transformation – enhanced with stories and analogies – to help business leaders to understand the Digital and IT transformation journey in very […]
Leading the Acceleration of Digital Transformation Part 4: HOW We Build IT to Last by Designing for Change

How Can We Create an Architecture That’s Built to Last Because It’s Designed for Change? This is the continuation of part of an ongoing series, where I’m using the framework of WHY, WHAT, HOW, WHO from my book Blind Spot: A Leader’s Guide To IT-Enabled Business Transformation – enhanced with stories and analogies – to […]
Leading the Acceleration of Digital Transformation Part 3: Changing HOW the Technology is Built

How Can We Create an Architecture That’s Built to Last Because It’s Designed for Change? This is the third part of an ongoing series, where I’m using the framework of WHY, WHAT, HOW, WHO from my book Blind Spot: A Leader’s Guide To IT-Enabled Business Transformation – enhanced with stories and analogies – to help […]
Leading the Acceleration of Digital Transformation Part 2: The WHAT is Business Agility

The last few months have clarified WHY we need to change, and that the time is NOW. Only a few senior leaders are still wondering or resisting that premise. The real challenge, for the entire executive team, is to think about the WHAT. What should we do about it? If we zoom way out, what […]
Leading the Acceleration of Digital Transformation Part 1: WHY the Time is NOW

Over the course of the next several weeks, I’ll be sharing with CIOs and IT leaders in our community some perspective, principles, and practices. My book, Blind Spot: A Leader’s Guide To IT-Enabled Business Transformation, is written for business leaders to understand the IT transformation journey in very simple business terms. I’ll be using the framework […]
Aligning Strategy to Business Capabilities

IT doesn’t exist as a function for its own sake, IT exists to enable capabilities that a company needs in order to fulfill its business strategy and ultimately deliver returns to investors. But all too often, the linkage between what is being asked of IT, and the value it is intended to deliver to the […]