In Part 2, I introduced the 360° Dashboard and underlying framework designed to provide business SMEs and leaders with an end-2-end view of how changes impacts their organization. The focus of Part 2 was to provide the "big picture" for positioning Biz Arch and the cartographic layer that sits atop the organization's existing "digital" infrastructure.
In Part 3, I'll explain the framing for the lower portion, which introduces a DNA reference model for any organization to map the Biz Arch topology (model of maps) (see Part 1) to their existing infrastructure.
With the introduction of AI & ML, Digital Transformation, there are many new marketing approaches for building revenue streams using the growing suite of new tools (variants around ML & AI), I've seen an increasing number of references around "Corporate DNA", suggesting we can make the leap from biological transformation to digital transformation using "similar" technology investments and building off the advancing singularity. While I fully embrace the concepts around singularity and the increasing immersion of technology and biology, I'm going to take a slightly more pedestrian approach around my use of DNA as I see it more analogous to a reference model for describing any organization / business (regardless of size, complexity, industry). Further, it's extendible to government entities and educational institutions. If we examine the essence of any organization, they all have 3 common ingredients from which to build upon:
Every organization has some type of Operation (product and/or service), which they use to deliver value (otherwise why exist).
Every organization performs some level of planning to survive and thrive. These plans may be informal or can become enormously complex. I'll refer to this as Strategy. The art of planning consists of examining current state (where are you today) and looking into the future state (where you want to be tomorrow).
Every organization has to marshal resources to get from point A (current state) to point B (future state) by investing in change. The final piece of organizational DNA is focused on the Execution of change as that is where the opportunity for agility exists.
The Execution of that change is becoming increasingly more complex, due to the accelerating pace of change (in each business, in the environment [digital, physical], and even in our society. Everything is changing. This is not a new message, rather it's the pace at which things are changing (shifted from linear to geometric). That shift has already overwhelmed human capabilities and in many instances has also overwhelmed organizations and their ability to sense and respond to change.
The DNA reference model (that I'm introducing) for organizations consists of the above mentioned components, which for now look very familiar as SEO (search engine optimization has been around for years). I'm leveraging the same letters (S, E, O) to serve a different purpose:
S = Strategy
E = Execution
O = Operations
Each of these core elements (SEO) are present in every organization. The elements form the basis for establishing all of the necessary capabilities to plan, create, and deliver value. The manner in which an organization achieves efficiencies through scale, agility to adapt to change and complexity, and the ability to measure value so they can drive innovation can vary significantly. Too much variance can put an organization out of business. The goal for architecting your business is to reduce the likelihood of significant disruption as change happens at an accelerating pace. The Biz Arch Cartography provides an organization with an adaptable "sextant" for navigating change and designing adaptation into the systems, processes, and resources (within the organization and in the value chains where the organization participates).
Start with your organization's DNA to architect your business:
Operations: Identify your products and/or services you offer to customers (current state)
Strategy: Create your to survive [and hopefully thrive = grow] (future state)
Execution: Assess the gap between current & future state and identify the changes you need to make to achieve the future state.
In the next few posts, I will introduce a Capability Map and explain how this can be used as a reference model for establishing your Biz Architecture scaffolding. Initially, I'll introduce maps that are commonly referenced in Business Architecture and supplement those with additional maps that may seem new, but are merely reference models to incorporate one or more concepts.