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Hi and welcome to my personal blog. On this site I publish information I hope will be beneficial to readers. My current focus areas, are my Digital Business Consultancy, Agile Business Management and Training.

Why Enterprise Architecture? A Short video

April 18, 2017 By Chris Mundy Leave a Comment

Why Enterprise Architecture? If you’re an Enterprise Architect, what do you say when someone comes up to ask, what do you do?

Depending on your audience and outlook, you could say something that could either bore them or help them learn a bit more.

If they don’t ask any further questions, that may show they’re not interested.

However, if they are interested, then most probably, the conversation will come up the following questions,

  • What is Enterprise Architecture?
  • Why Enterprise Architecture?

I could write a long blog post about this, or I could let a small video do all the talking.

If  you want to understand simply the strategy to manage and grow existing, current and future technology to meet your business needs, then this small video will give you a great snapshot.

I like the way how the video promotes insight and knowledge for us to create solutions that are flexible, robust and efficient for the future.

If ever there was a time to grow an organisation’s technology capability to support a thriving business into the future, then Enterprise Architecture thinking and practices will greatly enable that to happen.

If you want to know more about the philosophy behind this video, go to http://enterprisechess.com Gerben Wierda’s site.

Laser Scanning and 3D Printing saves a 103 year old grandprix car

April 18, 2017 By Chris Mundy

Laser Scanning and 3D Printing saves a 103 year old grand prix car.

I always like to learn about technology advancements that help us sustain a connection to the past.

Classic Aircraft restoration is one of those personal touch points.

I saw this article on the ABC (Australia) about the re-creation of an engine block using Laser Scanning and 3D printing.

They used powerful lasers, and scanned the existing engine block inside and out, saving thousands of hours of pattern making.

Delage Type-S

  • In 1914 just three Delage Type-S cars were made for a premier race in Lyon, France
  • World War I began a month after the race and racing in Europe came to a halt
  • The Delage Type-S cars were sold to the US, then in the 1920s one of them was brought to Australia to race
  • The car was driven by some of Australia’s earliest race car drivers and was owned by motor racing legend Lex Davison

Read how the Laser Scanning and 3D Printing saved the car.

If you go across to the ABC’s website, there’s a great video that shows you what they did with lots more information in the article.

The world’s only surviving 1914 Delage Type-S car is still running thanks to laser scanning and a 3D printer.

Source: Delage Type-S: The 103-year-old grand prix car saved by a 3D printer – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

I imagine with the advancements in metallurgy and practices in casting over the last 103 years, the quality of the block would be of a better quality than the original.

Update 21/04/2017

The Team that did the work reached out to me in appreciation for the post. Here is there link to their site and the project:

1914 Delage Engine Block

3 Tips To Improve Your Web User Experience WOW Factor – Your Web Presence

July 5, 2016 By Chris Mundy Leave a Comment

In this article I highlight 3 tips to improve your web user experience with the WOW factor. Keep reading to find out it’s more than design.

Source: 3 Tips To Improve Your Web User Experience WOW Factor – Your Web Presence

Visualize Your Architecture – 5 Tips for effective Tech Leads

June 24, 2015 By Chris Mundy Leave a Comment

Visualize Your Architecture – 5 Tips for effective Tech Leads. The inspiration for this article comes from this article by Patrick Kua from Thoughtworks.

Image of: Visualise Your Architecture
Patrick raises five great points about Tech leadership. I can affirm what he says as I’ve had the opportunity of leading some development teams in my career.

  1. Learn to Delegate
  2. Find Time to Code
  3. Visualise Your Architecture
  4. Spend Time 1-on-1 With Team Members
  5. Learn to Speak the Language of the Business

About Visualise your Architecture from the article, Patrick says … “I have worked in several teams where developers had no idea how their task fit into a bigger picture. A small technical decision made by a developer might have a wider architectural impact but impossible to prevent if developers to do understand the broader picture.

An effective Tech Lead often has a visual representation of their system architecture on-hand and uses it to have discussions with developers. There will often be different views of the architecture (logical, deployment, etc) and each diagram helps developers see how their task fits into a broader system architecture.

A whole-team whiteboard session is often a useful exercise for reviewing the overall architecture as it evolves over time to meet differing requirements and the discussion during the session is even more important than the diagram. Focus on key quality attributes that drive your architectural vision (scalability, performance, usability concerns, etc) and how they have shaped your architecture.

Call out assumptions and the historical context to help developers guide their everyday decisions.

Source: 5 Tips for Being an Effective Tech Lead | ThoughtWorks.

I want to focus on the ‘Visualise Your Architecture’ aspect as it is a key for any Technology Leader and ask these questions:

  • How do you easily show your team the big picture of your organisation, technology and interdependencies?
  • How do you show your director quickly and concisely what you’re building?
  • How can others get on same page quickly so they can understand what you’re doing and how you can help them?

My response to this is use more diagrams.

The challenge is changing the habits and here’s the choice:

“Do I write long documentation,

or

create more diagrams and lessen the amount of documentation?”

Less is more plus you get a higher-quality documentation.

Using Patrick’s 5 points, let me expand on those aspects to visualizations.

1. Learn to delegate the creation and management of diagrams or become the champion drawer yourself

If’ you’re on a software development project then someone in the team needs to create the visualizations such as the diagrams.

If’ the tech team haven’t got the skills, make sure you’ve got a business analyst on hand who understands tech people and can get down on paper what they are building and turn it into diagrams.

If you haven’t got anyone else, then you’re it!

As they say… “If it’s going to be its up to me”.

Everyone can draw, for some people it’s natural, others have to work at, you can be taught.

2. Find Time to Code

Ain’t that the truth. I had to work hard in University to pass my Java coding. I found more enjoyment in HTML and web development and still do a bit of HTML within the confines of the content management systems I specialise in.

Image of a Programming Language Cloud

I found by keeping my head and hands occasionally into HTML and CSS, it kind of keeps me sharp and it makes me remember things taught long ago.

Software coding is always changing. It pays to keep on top, it’s just like surfing, every wave is different, you just have to learn how to surf, do it often, so you know how to handle the different waves as they come along.

How do visualisations work with finding time to code??

A diagram acts as a mental cue to help remember how to write software code.

Pull out the diagram and start going over the code and you’ll quickly start to get your head around things.

By the way, does your organisation have technology coding diagrams and standards?

That’s a question that the next pay grade up from you needs to answer if they don’t have any.

3. Visualise Your Architecture

Some years ago, I did a five-day intense Enterprise Architecture course. Besides coming out of that course feeling like I stepped out in front of a moving bus and getting slammed, I had several days if not months to digest the information and start applying it. I still refer to workbooks today.

I came into Enterprise Architecture with a bent on drawing it.

When I started creating architecture diagrams and posters, I was initially really drawing for myself, I was teaching myself how the complete Enterprise Architecture hung together where I worked.

The crazy thing was that others could also understand it as well. Comments like, “now I get it”, “I didn’t know that connected to that”, or, “that’s a bad design we need to focus on that area” and “this is first time I’ve seen the whole Technology picture.”

The visualizations created a platform for a conversation, and one that was a focused conversation on the subject and not someone’s point of view, it standardised viewing and understanding.

Where to put the architecture visualization posters

When you create architecture visualization posters, put them in strategic places around the office, up on the wall at eye level to the situation; sitting or standing. Make them big, so people can see and read them.

Strategic places around the office are:

  • Near the lift
  • Near the water cooler
  • In the tea room
  • At the entrance to the director’s office

Image of Wall E Poster: Visualise Your Architecture

Amazing what a Poster can do, Hollywood has been doing it for some time. It must work!

If you create architecture visualization diagrams and posters, make sure they make sense, are correct and look smart, if they don’t, they quickly become re-cycling paper.

4. Spend Time 1-on-1 With Team Members

Looking back to my days of project managing a software development team, I learnt lots. I put into practice my motto I held for years for being a student of better things.

“It’s better to ask dumb questions than make stupid mistakes”.

I’m that guy who learnt the hard way. I had this incredible team of smart young developers who have since gone on to areas of Technology Leadership in the Public Sector. The best way I learnt off this talent was drawing the technical diagrams they needed for their software development and system integration. I would ask them one-on-one questions such as, does, this look right? Is there anything else to add?

They rolled their eyes, muttered under their breaths and helped me with my technical diagrams, then got back to writing code. Between the group, they managed to write a software messaging server for a high-performance, high-capacity, and high-volume data management solution.

1-on-1 in the professional setting is great. The things I’ve learnt as a tech lead from these relationships are:

  • People have other points of view, especially in technology,  you can always learn something new,
  • Challenge people to go to the next level in whatever they do, stretching the mind helps people to grow and discover new horizons, especially in technology,
  • Respect the people’s differences and work with them, whatever their differences, your role is to help them excel at their job. Have you thought they might not like your differences??

5. Learn to Speak the Language of the Business: Use visualizations

One of the key ways to speak the language of the business is to use visualizations such as diagrams. Some of the key diagrams for this are:

  • Organisation charts
  • Operating models
  • Product description diagrams
  • Business process diagrams
  • Use case diagrams

Without going into each of these types of diagrams, these represent key activities of the business and customer or client interactions.

In each of these diagrams, there is an opportunity to incorporate the language of the business. The benefits of using the language in the diagram is two-fold:

  • People get to paint a mental image of what the activity is and what it does,
  • People are reminded of the correct business language and terminology, descriptions and the semantics of the business language.

In closing, as a Tech Lead, do not underestimate the value of a diagram and the power it has to convey a message to give a better outcome.

Get your people using more diagrams and it will improve the quality of your products and improve the ability for you to communicate with others.

Well, it’s time to get drawing, get to it!

Visualization Techniques: Making A Difference

June 11, 2015 By Chris Mundy Leave a Comment

In this blog post I will look at Visualization techniques that have made and are making a difference along with changing how we do things. Let’s start with a couple of stories from history and see how visualization techniques impacted major decisions.

Visualizing data helped the Allies during World War 2

Some years ago, I walked into Churchill’s War Rooms in London. My interest in visiting the war rooms came from my mother who grew up in the UK during World War 2. Mum survived the blitz in Portsmouth, home of the Royal Navy.

The closest call for Mum came on the 10th January 1941 when a bomb fell on the house next door, thankfully the Anderson Air Raid shelter protected the family from the flying debris.

Back at the war rooms, besides the amazement of the time capsule of the war rooms itself, I was surprised to see that Data Visualizations were alive and well and were used by Winston Churchill and the war cabinet in the 1940s.

There on the wall in all its glory were graphs and charts, describing units, manpower, enemy sizes, casualties and more.

Although not found in the War Rooms, this chart is an example of a Visualization of the period. It's the Chart of merchant shipping losses, 1939-41. Reference: MacDougall Papers, MACD 28/4. Courtesy of Churchill's scientists 13th April 2015 in Archives Centre, Art & Exhibitions - Churchill Cambridge College
Although not found in the War Rooms, this chart is an example of a Visualization of the period. It’s the Chart of merchant shipping losses, 1939-41. Reference: MacDougall Papers, MACD 28/4. Courtesy of Churchill’s scientists 13th April 2015 in Archives Centre, Art & Exhibitions – Churchill Cambridge College

The information provided two valuable pieces of the jigsaw puzzle of war:

1. You could comprehend what was happening
2. You could make better decisions based on that information

One of the key underpinning successes of the war came from the collection of information and the ability to assess it and act upon it so. The visualizing technique helped comprehend information quickly.

Visualizing process information changed how we manufacture things today

Since World War 2 data visualizations such as graphs and charts have been dominant in shaping how we do things. Industry has benefited greatly from it.

As an example, Just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing, a method aimed primarily at reducing flow times within production, provided key information for improving response times from suppliers and to customers.

JIT reduces time across production and delivery along with removal of wastage and rework, keeping just the right amount of stock to meet demand.

Image of a Just in Time Stock Visualization for Visualizing Techniques

From its origin and development in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s. Western industry saw the value it provided and eventually it migrated to the west in the 1980s.

When people saw the charts and graphs, the data visualizations that showed what it improved, it was only a matter of time before it was adopted.

With the advent of the mainframe and personal computers, programs such as Batch spreadsheet report generator, IBM Financial Planning and Control System, VisiCalc, Lotus 1-2-3, Microsoft Excel allowed a person to take data, put into the spreadsheet and represent it graphically.

Infographics help us to Visualize Big Data

Since the 60s we’ve been storing lots of data. As we’ve gotten more proficient with tape and disk storage, we’ve stored more and more data. We’ve gotten to point of having mobile data centres in a container. All this data wherever its stored and access is better known as Big data. Big data is a rather broad term for larger data sets.

Social Network Analysis Visualization

It was only a matter of time when technology provided the ability to look at data warehouses and the big data it stored then ask, “how can I display and use this information in a meaningful way?”

So the modern data visualization was born.

One of the main goals of Visualizing big data is to communicate information clearly and effectively through graphical means.

Now, to make it more interesting, let’s put this criteria on how we should deal with this big data and make it graphical:

• Make it functional – let the data tell the story
• Make it interesting to look at (aesthetics)
• Make it easy to read (intuitive)

So putting that into a formula we come up with this:

Functionality + Aesthetics + Intuitive = Infographic

Thus the Infographic was born: a graphical visual representation of information, intended to present information quickly and clearly.

“Infographics are becoming the new photographs for our time, they give a snapshot of information displayed in a simple to read picture”

Infographics are a type of visualization that allow people to quickly see what is really is going on.

Using infographics makes good sense, they make it easy to interpret information data, however they do come with some caveats.

Visualizing Infographics if not done right can be dangerous – “The emperors new clothes”

I have this niggling question about visualizing data infographics; how do you know what you’re seeing is telling the truth or am I just looking at a slick pretty picture?

Like the story of the Emperor’s new clothes being and thinking you got the greatest outfit but in reality you don’t have anything, infographics come with a similar challenge.

The pictures look really great but is there any validity to the data underneath? Go to Google images and search on infographics and you’ll get the eye candy experience.

It strikes me when I go to a number of websites with infographics they look really great, and that’s the problem, they look really great but is the information correct?

With the tools available in the marketplace on the PC desktop, the ability to be able to create great looking drawings, diagram and infographics is relatively easy, in other words, we can easily make “shiny objects”.

The challenge arises in that people are always attracted to the shiny object. They could be wooed by the look and feel of the infographic and not check the accuracy of the data and so it becomes the truth.

I came across a couple of articles that tell about a team of Belgian researchers that found that ’Human beings are attracted to glossy objects’.

‘However, the investigation of whether this preference for glossy is a systematic bias, and the rationale for why, has received little or no attention.’ ‘First and foremost, this paper shows that our preference for glossy might be deep-rooted and very human,’ say the authors.

Read more: hhttp://dailym.ai/1KOreTi  and http://bit.ly/1M7jbxW

Translate this into a Infographic and we run the danger…

If it looks great it must be correct!” (I Hope)

People will always be wooed by the shiny object, rather than digging in deeper to validate the quality of the message behind the picture.

The best ways to address this is by asking some questions:

  • Is the data set accurate?
  • Has the data been validated?
  • Does the infographic cite the source data and if so where can it be found?
Infographic Accuracy - Visualizing Techniques

The above image was created using a popular online tool for making Infographics. This is an example of ease of creating infographics.

Now the challenge is putting all the validation and crossing checking information into the Infographic. It’s probably going to spoil the look and feel. Maybe a shortlink may suffice.

Be warned, target audiences at presentations are usually well-educated and if they’re on the ball may ask, “how do I know this is telling me the truth?” If that’s the case, be well armed and have another “something” on hand to validate the pictures: a document, a reference guide, a handout or maybe a simpler infographic, to support the data.

If you’ve found a way to easily express the integrity of the data, then knock yourself out, go and create the greatest infographic to help get your message across.

That’s when a Visualization becomes a powerful tool in helping an audience understand a topic and possibly use that information to be better informed or make a better decision.

Image of Accurate Infographics for Visualization Techniques

Visualization techniques improve the way we build and support Technology Systems.

When we talk about visualizing data infographics, we’re showing a graphical multi-media or paper presentation to an audience of queried information extracted from a data warehouse.

When we talk about visualizations for building and maintaining technology systems, we’re talking about visualization techniques such as diagrams, drawings and presentations used in project management, business analysis, software development, testing, release management, and on-going support.

My research and observations show that not enough organisations use visualizations for this.

A general observation is there are lots of documents and, there are lots of individual diagrams inserted into those document, and there are lots of notations to support those diagrams.

If technology is going to elevate to new levels of innovation, development and growth, it will have to rely on the use Visualizations more effectively.

The power of using Visualization techniques such as diagramming for the development and support life cycle of technology is;

  • Saving in delivering systems through time and resources
  • Improving communication between project and support stakeholders
  • Providing traceability in development and support history

Imagine a 100 page document outlining the requirements of an Information Technology system. What would happen if that document only needed 20 pages of textual content and one diagram to explain what is being built? Imagine the saving.

“If a picture paints 1000 words then why are we still writing 1000 words to build and support Information Technology Systems?”

Image of an overview of a Data Visualization - Visualizing Techniques

My call today is for people and organisations to adopt an engineering approach to using more visualizations across the lifecycle of technology.

Technology practitioners need to adopt the zeal that the Data Visualization fraternity have when it comes to presenting their case through visualizing data infographics.

More visualizations help in creating an environment of innovation that improves the delivery of Information Technology Systems. The best architects and business analysts I have known all relied on using diagrams to maximise their efforts.

Organisations need to raise their capability maturity in this area.

In the last 400 years, human endeavour has been influenced greatly by the use of art, and drawings to capture what the eye sees and then allow people to build objects that influence how we live on this planet and leave this planet, in essence these are visualizations.

The secret is to use more diagrams, drawings and presentations in a way that an organisation can better deliver goods and services for its customers and itself now and into the future.

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