Tom Graves / Tetradian

Urgently need to do a catch-up on the ‘week in tweets’ series: I’m running almost four weeks behind, which is not good – many apologies.

Usual categories and a couple of extra items, anyway, after the usual ‘Read more…’ link:

Enterprise-architecture, business-architecture, business-strategy and business matters in general:

• SAlhir: Mastery involves recognizing profound simplicity at the heart of utter complexity where all forces are in tension and harmony. <v.important re action in the Chaotic domain
• alphalo: thinking about resilience http://shareable.net/blog/resilience-primer <strong recommend #entarch #bizarch #d4r
• (via @thinksmith) ‘Calling all efficiency experts!’ http://bit.ly/bK6ovb <lovely! – so how to apply this at whole-enterprise scale? #entarch
• CreatvEmergence: Empty Fullness is emergent space – http://bit.ly/cwFQ0k <true – so how do we apply this in #entarch etc?
• tdebaillon: The Shirky Principle http://bit.ly/8XjHoa <”Institutions will try to preserve the problem for which they are the solution” – definitely an ‘ouch..’ for #entarch #bizarch etc
• SAlhir: The Importance of Meaningful Work http://sloanreview.mit.edu/the-magazine/articles/2010/winter/51202/the-importance-of-meaningful-work/ <”Too often, business students see little overlap between the jobs they plan to do — and those they consider most socially responsible or would most enjoy.”
• SAlhir: “It’s easier to act your way to a new way of thinking than to think your way to a new way of acting” http://bit.ly/aL2GbA [PDF] <changing organisational culture at GM-NUMMI #entarch #bizarch
• blomr: Aligning EA-principles with strategy presentation. Architect’s goals are similar to strategist’s goals.That’s a start! Now diving deeper….
• ChristineArena: The keys to employee engagement http://bit.ly/ajkNiy 3BL TV interview with @AngelPoints CEO Andy Mercy
• business_design: In case you haven’t seen the pictures of our #bmgen iPad app – first developments: http://post.ly/YAUH <interesting design of a simple yet powerful #bizarch tool
• business_design: Interesting Harvard case study on the changing landscape in the publishing industry http://bit.ly/bLucfQ < #bizarch
• chrisdpotts: “Great Business Case, But No Thanks” – extended version of the CIO article http://bit.ly/bBR5gv [PDF] <portfolio strategy
• BillIves: RT @robpatrob: The New Org Design – It’s Here Now – Convergence has occurred http://post.ly/YDa6 <important #entarch #bizarch
• Cybersal: @tetradian like the garden metaphor in that new org design post – I  said EA should be more like gardening on an EAC panel in 2002. #entarch
• tetradian: @Cybersal landscape-designer is better metaphor for EA than city-planner – describe emergence in living systems, cities can be too abstract
• Cybersal: @tetradian both metaphors have merit IMO-It’s like Morgan’s ‘Images of Organisation’ – each metaphor is a lens with strengths and weaknesses
• tetradian: @Cybersal agreed – yet as with all metaphors, we need to be clear what we’re using the metaphor for, and why
• jdevoo: RT @davidakermanis: Dominant Agency Models Face Extinction – “Digital will f*ck you up” (via @tamera) http://bit.ly/bVAurG <nominally about advertising, but is also a great argument for whole-of-enterprise architecture
• bartleeten: Non-Principles http://icio.us/kcvmqs <documenting ‘stuff we couldn’t care a stuff about’ – mostly #soa but also #entarch etc
• bartleeten: RT @mentoraxis RT @BeyondEA Enterprise Architecture and Kindliness – more in common than you may think! http://bit.ly/cAyVoe #entarch <aspects of values-architecture etc
• blomr: Bridging islands: The need to positioning EA in context of strategy, business planning, portfolio mngmnt, proj.mgmnt, maintenance and risk. #entarch
• business_design: RT @jnovogratz: Seth Godin’s wisdom from seeing the IPAD earn the biggest launch ever… http://ow.ly/1vvz1 -create a culture of wonder
• davidcushman: RT @jmacdonald: The Army of Fanatics: http://tinyurl.com/ye7obak <now apply that to your #entarch and #bizarch?
• CreatvEmergence: Revisiting “Contained by Principles” – on transformative power of improv  – http://bit.ly/9xkqr2
• business_design: $-focus: when companies annoy customers and abandon value creation… RT @skap5: Bad business model. Charging for a carry-on bag is absurd <reference to US no-frills airline Spirit, which announced today that it would be charging passengers for carry-ons placed overhead
• joyce_hostyn: RT @VenessaMiemis: love this piece by @metalifestream – Meta Tools http://bit.ly/cEHRBG (great blogroll too!) <points to MetaLife Project website – interesting
• hebsgaard: maintaining-your-garden-of-trust  http://ow.ly/170kgo <another brilliant piece by @VenessaMiemis #entarch #bizarch
• CreatvEmergence: Right on…so improv! RT @Bizprov “Intelligent Failures” crucial 2 org learning & sense-making (HBR): http://bit.ly/cXjpgD
• CreatvEmergence: RT @PsyBlog Boost Creativity: 7 Unusual Psychological Techniques http://bit.ly/dyxiW4 < #innovation #entarch #bmgen etc
• CreatvEmergence: RT @PhilMcCreight: RT @thinkdsignchnge: SHAPE: A methodology for people-centred service innovation http://post.ly/YhpE <for once, this is not IT, but real people-oriented services – looks interesting, haven’t had a chance to read it yet (28page mini-book on Scribd)
• joyce_hostyn: RT @dianarailton: Customers: irrational sheep or intelligent strangers?: Gerry McGovern http://goo.gl/ASfE <nicely put…
• joyce_hostyn: 10 reasons #contentstrategy is essential when designing a holistic customer experience http://bit.ly/cb7YQ8 #ux #entarch <another example where a true whole-of-enterprise architecture is essential
• thoughttrans: “Curiosity Trumps Knowledge” How Curious Are You? http://short.to/18bpk <importance of curiosity and humility in #entarch
• CreatvEmergence: RT @ViRAms: Quantifying Emergence in terms of Persistent Mutual Information http://arxiv.org/abs/1003.3028 <very mathematical but potentially useful
• enterprisearchs: Business Architecture Starts With Business  http://bit.ly/9eLT4Z <a useful summary from Forrester – but what’s frightening is that this is apparently still news to some folks…
• greblhad: It appears that capturing traditions are a lost element in most firms #entarch and #bizarch <agree – an art we need to reclaim
• CreatvEmergence: RT @Bizprov: Conversation Carnivores” 7 Ways to Engage Difficult Individuals Using Improv Status Techniques http://bit.ly/ceEc1q <useful addition to soft-skills for #entarch #bizarch etc
• business_design: Another ‘must-read’ by @sgblank on ‘business models not biz plans’ http://bit.ly/8ZRbXG a topic @alansmith and I discussed in the Alps… <very useful discussion of difference between business-plan (usually financial, usually static) and business-model (values-based, usually dynamic)
• joyce_hostyn: Yes! design is messy as it involves humans. RT @odannyboy I rant about The Design Process and the Scientific Method http://bit.ly/c575kR <very useful summary about the limitations of ‘science’ (aka clinging to spurious ‘certainty’)
• aojensen: On Taxonomy Completeness: http://bit.ly/a0bUTB #thinkingenterprise #entarch <some very good questions there…
• SAlhir: RT @kingofla: The Organization Is Alive http://shar.es/mq0v5 #tlcc <article in magazine Strategy+Business
• thoughttrans: RT @ThisIsSethsBlog Seth’s Blog: Rights and responsibilities http://bit.ly/cUEi34 <fundamental in #entarch #bizarch – “It seems that org & individuals that focus more on their responsibilities & less on their rights tend to outperform” – an excellent Seth Godin variant of a theme I’ve been pushing for many years now
• chrisdpotts: RT @PeterKretzman: It never ceases to surprise me how “experts” in a field can be completely blind to a disruptive, game-changing force in that field.
• theopengroup: RT @mrjcleaver: Big takeaway from last week’s Toronto #entarch conference. IT won’t get to partner with business until it measures value-add <yup – another theme I’ve been trying to explain to them for years…
• unorder: Policies are organizational scar tissue. From Rework. http://bit.ly/cr7cUy
• business_design: RT @rotkapchen: And yet biz tries it daily : ) RT @LDSTroy You can’t talk your way out of what you’ve behaved yourself into. *Stephen Covey
• jdevoo: First mass production (taylor), then styling variants (sloan), then lean (toyota) Next? Labor-as-a-Service (longtail) http://bit.ly/9fBaG3 <am I the only person who finds these ‘crowdsourced labour’ tools seriously scary – a new extreme version of ‘divide and conquer’ for the rich and larcenous?
• oscarberg: Employee Traits Hierarchy for the Creative Economy http://bit.ly/9M0xt9 /via @raesmaa #entarch #bizarch

A discussion on complexity, chaos and the Cynefin framework, following previous comments by @rotkapchen:

• tetradian: @rotkapchen forgot to ask: why do you dislike Cynefin? in what ways do you feel it doesn’t work? (not disagreeing, just wld like yr opinion)
• rotkapchen: @tetradian Still trying to figure that out. The quadrant model putting simple and complexity in different corners is ‘flawed’. // There’s something @jonhusband recently sent w/cube where complexity was correctly illustrated as ‘inside’ of chaos/order // Chaos and order are the two sides of the coin. Complexity is the multiple of simple — they ARE the coin.
• tetradian: many thanks re Cynefin – i think we largely agree – my current attempts are at eg. http://bit.ly/dx3ftx and http://bit.ly/d9UllN
• rotkapchen: Look forward to catching up with those. About to go on a road trip. Need to ‘disconnect’. L8R
• tdebaillon: I’d rather spot complexity as congruent to simple. It’s a wider concept than multiple is.
• rotkapchen: Asking ? so I don’t forget but will miss answer til l8r, congruent how?
• tdebaillon: simple maths: 4 is multiple of 2, 4 is congruent to 2 mod 2, but also is 5 congruent to 3. This allows for // “the rest”, ie CAS properties which cannot be reduced to simplicity: attractors, emergence, etc.
• tetradian: agreed re CAS – not everything can be reduced to Simple rules – that’s why IT-centric ‘EA’/BPR etc so often fails
• tdebaillon: True. But is it because of complexity, or because of complexity-complication coexistence?
• tetradian: ‘complexity’ and ‘complication’ are both only *interpretations* of same context, so by definition they co-exist
• rotkapchen: Interesting take on CAS because emergence, like bifurcation is the multiplied results of thousands of simple tests.
• tetradian: each test in CAS is simple, but are non-reversible/can’t be used predictively – the key reqmt in Complicated/Simple // prediction via cause/effect (i.e. Simple/Complictd) depends on reversibility of test – not avalbl in Complex/Chaotic
• rotkapchen: RU sure? Is there no ‘edge’ to the pattern that can be identified? We may not know how to construct the algorithm.
• tetradian: ever tried constructing algorithm to predict radioactive decay? or people and their choices? – real limits exist // Simple=rule, Complictd=algorithm, Cmplx=pattern, Chaotc=’market-of-one’ – bt notion of ‘edge’ b/w each is too Simple
• tetradian: other key difference: in Compltcd/Simple repeating an action -> same results, in Cmplx/Chaotic -> different results
• rotkapchen: @tetradian @tdebaillon At what level is repetition to be applied? There are abstract rules that govern behaviors. We may look too closely. // Move those definitions into ‘flow’ and what happens? They’re states, not absolutes. All exist at once somewhere. // There are no edges between them, the ‘edge’ is the ‘optimal’ emergent ‘becoming’…the place of ‘perfect’ balance… // but ‘perfect’ only in the moment as it adapts to the constantly changing conditions. Riding crest of the wave.
• tetradian: i think i agree, but I fear we’ve gone past what’s understandable in 140char chunks.. move onto email/blog, perhaps?
• tdebaillon: Agree with you. Predictibility versus adaptivity is also an issue worth discussing. What about ‘iterative edges’?
• rotkapchen: luv ‘iterative edges’. Let’s grab the URL and the trademark will catch up soon.
• tetradian: “luv ‘iterative edges’” – will second that – a great term for what’s going on there!
• rotkapchen: Tested the term w/my alter-ego. Raised thots of mindsets that it would resonnate with and those it would not. // another placeholder – a paradox – ‘flowing edges’. Both a destination and a journey.
• tetradian: edges: Simple=fixed (eg std Cynefin), Complctd=movable, Complex=porous, Chaotic=quantum (both/and there/not-there) ? // (credit to @CyberSal for original version of that description of edges)
• aleksb6: why is there a difference between movable and porous? is fractal behavior chaotic?
• tetradian: a boundary can be movable w/o being porous – think sliding-scale rather than Simple true/false … // ..agree fractal is probably Complex – but that list was only examples, otherwise it would be too Simple
• RSessions: @tetradian Are you guys letting go of “complex?” I’m so excited!
• tetradian: @RSessions nope, we still won’t let you use ‘complexity’ for ‘very complicated’ – sorry!
• aleksb6: @tetradian is there mathematical difference between sliding scale and true/false?  Are they not both statistically derived fractions?
• tetradian: maybe not in ‘real’ math, but in human terms many people have real difficulty handling shades-of-grey versus simple black/white
• rotkapchen:  “fractal is probably Complex”? Whaddo you think I’m talking about when I say complexity is ‘plural’ simple? // Complexity is another ‘state’ of simple. They’re not just related. Person: child/adult. Social: one/many
• tetradian: ‘complexity is another state of simple’: not so – e.g. network-effects do not occur in a market-of-one // analogy: states of matter: solid=Simple liquid=Complicated gas=Complex plasma=Chaotic – related but fundamental differences
• aleksb6: perhaps people are capable of handling more shades of gray than we often give them credit for, but their thresholds are unique? // interesting. w states of matter, transition points are different for each element and compound. implications for #cynefin?
• aleksb6: ‘entropy’ is being redefined by quantum computing. // entropy is a measure of information based on velocity of particles w/n… complicated, not complex
• tetradian: @aleksb6 “people are capable of handling more shades of gray” – yes, but binary-logic IT isn’t (nor simplistic Taylorism etc)
• tetradian: @aleksb6 agree, is interesting metaphor/analogy – but beware of ‘non-standard’ interpretations of cynefin: best ‘Let Sleeping Dragons Lie’?
• tetradian: @aleksb6 @rotkapchen @tdebaillon “entropy is measure of information”: what does that tell us about #entarch? don’t stretch metaphor too far!
• aleksb6: actually, this metaphor is perfect for #entarch – it is about enterprise knowledge classification & mgmt
• tdebaillon: But what about knowledge #flow? Computing is agnostic.. Direction of flows is a concern, internal, ext, 2way // Direction of knowledge flows is significant for decision making process, and def of ‘boundaries’.
• rotkapchen: Indeed, that’s the beauty of the Design Thinking continuum. Too far to either end = entropy.
• tdebaillon: Agreed. Still do not buy chaotic part in orgz. Even pure creativity has (untold) rules -> Design Thinking.

Knowledge-management, narrative-knowledge and in-person collaboration:

• unorder: New post: Trigger new stories and changing behaviours http://bit.ly/cEiLBk <important in organisational change
• bartleeten: RT @BackFromRed: The Bane of Checklist Mentality http://bit.ly/bEpaTy #projectmanager #cio #hcit <need for balance! #entarch [from smbounds: '<< prev retweet on checklists is more nuanced than many articles i have read on the subject -- check it out!']
• chrisdpotts: RT @mkrigsman: RT @tom_peters If you’re lousy at politics, you’re lousy at implementation. Period. << shhhh! painful truths not in public! #CIO
• SAlhir: “Through people we become human” http://www.stoweboyd.com/message/social-scenes-the-invisible-calculus-of-culture.html <long, but worth it – another great Stowe Boyd piece
• EnterprisingA: Thought for today: The one true test of information is in its application to a real world problem (& only then does it become knowledge)
• Extremely important article by John Hagel and others, and various comments:
• (via hebsgaard) HBR/Deloitte Center for the Edge: ‘Are All Employees Knowledge-Workers?’ http://blogs.hbr.org/bigshift/2010/04/are-all-employees-knowledge-wo.html
• hebsgaard: George Dearing: It’s In Your Best Interest To See Everyone As A Knowledge Worker #e20 http://tinyurl.com/y8e5tbj
• hebsgaard: Augie Ray: Zappos, Nestle, Social Media and How All Workers Are Knowledge Workers #km http://tinyurl.com/yewu67t
• BillIves: RT @jackvinson: New post on KJolt: Is ‘knowledge worker’ no longer useful? http://bit.ly/ctL510
• DavidGurteen: 5 rules to reinvent “best practice” http://bit.ly/bcsvKB #KM <more brilliant insights from Nick Milton
• rettema: Some like my other post, her another: DO YOU WANT TO START A MOVEMENT IN #BMGEN and #ENTARCH, see how http://bit.ly/9M77vN <brilliant 3-minute summary by Derek Sivers in a TED video
• unorder: Guest blogger, Kevin Bishop, on changing behaviours by making costs visible http://bit.ly/ckw90V
• joyce_hostyn: RT @fdomon: great post by @johnt : The myth of knowledge objects – the gap between knowing and acting http://ff.im/-iK80M <great commentary on Patrick Lambe’s brilliant ‘The autism of KM’ #km
• oscarberg: Blogged: Forget about copying best practices http://goo.gl/fb/lfnsH <’best practices’ can only ever be guidelines at best: they’re no longer best-practices if they’re simply copied verbatim from someone else

Social-media, ‘Enterprise 2.0’ and online collaboration:

• DavidGurteen: iPad danger: app v. web, consumer v. creator http://j.mp/aXXWXJ /interesting insight by Jeff Jarvis <good point: iPad popular with media-groups because it reprises the old ‘active-producer’/'passive-consumer’ roles
• getstoried: Presentation on personal branding, socmedia, & story – http://slidesha.re/dr9E30 #e20 #story #brand <also for #entarch
• joyce_hostyn: RT @stcfrance: [Just posted] Interview with Joyce Hostyn from Open Text, speaking at #csforum10 on holistic customer experience. http://is.gd/bgcZU <”people aren’t users” – good solid sense on people-oriented architecture etc
• CreatvEmergence: RT @heidiko44: RT @brainpicker: How the evolution of media is changing storytelling – @nickbilton’s excellent @PopTech talk http://is.gd/bhziX
• BillIves: RT @socialmedia2day: The 5 C’s of Nurturing the Human Element in Social Media http://goo.gl/fb/4yrbG #sm
• davidcushman: I just blogged this: Twitter Follower Optimisation (beware the TFO) http://bit.ly/bLGOod <describes a Twitter equivalent of search-engine optimisation (SEO) – and explains why it’s a bad idea
• unorder: My friend Jill Chivers has a new website/business about listening and she has blogged about the role of stories http://bit.ly/bqgQ9c <nice practical intro to business-storytelling
• tetradian: ‘How to continue a legend in the days of social-media’ (for Guy Kewney – RIP) http://bit.ly/cQDegA
• oscarberg: Authentic concerns about social media – Concern #1 http://goo.gl/fb/pawsl <’What if everyone says whatever they want?’ – first in what looks to be a useful/practical series

Technical architecture and IT-architecture:

• bartleeten: Where’s The Line Between Architecting And Engineering? (via @gleganza) http://icio.us/s1z054 <focus here is on IT-type ‘solution-architect’ rather than EA or #bizarch
• bartleeten: SQUARE: Requirements Engineering for Improved System Security http://icio.us/3zej5f <primarily IT-arch, but useful nonetheless
• bartleeten: HP Labs Discovery Holds Potential to Fundamentally Change Computer System Design #yam http://icio.us/ye5atz <article about the ‘memristor’, computer-memory with inherent processor capability

Culture, society and social change:

• alphalo: video of ‘Seeding the gift culture’ by Charles Eisenstein http://bit.ly/a8A43a <some moves towards a responsibility-based economy
• alphalo: Gift circles are like the cells of a body. I envision groups of gift circles forming different organs of society. // A gift circle is an ecosystem. The gift economic engine spawns many different gift economic niches.
• alphalo: In a gift circle we express our needs and others can help us as a gift. // The constant expressing of needs and the helping of those needs makes a system adaptive and resilient to different pressures. // Different external pressures leads to different needs arising in a social sys. If sys. can respond to different needs it is resilient. // Our gift circles have resilience because they can serve new needs that arise with different external pressures. #d4r
• SAlhir: Failure to be aware of our Values and to have Vision is our undoing… // Being Practical is much harder than simply trying to be Ideal as it forces us to confront the subtle nuances of Reality!
• business_design: RT @johnmaeda: Think tanks are only useful to society when they spring a leak. // The right brain speaks the truth; the left brain makes the truth. Integrity is when you speak+make the *whole* truth.
• CreatvEmergence: Jean Houston: The Emerging New Story – http://bit.ly/6sJkCp – Kosmos Journal. <high-level overview of process of societal change
• hebsgaard: How Much Oil is Left? Economics, Monetary Changes & Shrinking Supply http://bit.ly/9fxpO4 <good summary on New Deal 2.0 of the huge sociopolitical implications of ‘peak oil’

Miscellaneous technical matters:

• mikejwalker: Convert PDFs to iBooks. http://bit.ly/c4XhcI #iPad #apple <ref to free Calibre ebook-converter: EPUB and many other formats

The ever-undaunted uncategorised items:

• DavidGurteen: focus on the important http://bit.ly/caAkKY <minimalism, in action – reclaiming the silence, doing what’s real
• unorder: RT @KateKendall: If you haven’t checked out www.focusmanifesto.com by @zen_habits before – have a read. http://tl.gd/od4ou <v.useful for those of us who struggle to keep focus on the task at hand!
• SAlhir: Serendipity is not randomness. It is unexpected relevance. http://www.buzzmachine.com/2010/03/30/serendipity-is-unexpected-relevance/ <…mainly in terms of juxtapositions of news stories
• enterprisearchs: RT @T3thinktank: Did you miss SXSW? Slideshare has compiled over 70 presentations from the event: http://cot.ag/9oAxVl
• CBAtInnovations: RT: @datachick @wfavero @eric_andersen: Very cool video: “PIXELS” by French Director Patrick Jean! The world as pxl http://j.mp/98nAKy > Yes <very nicely ironic
• EnterprisingA: Thought for today: Blind faith in the wisdom and methods of others is simply a recognition that you have no faith in your own
• rettema: RT @jwboissevain: You can only find truth with logic if you have already found it without it. <yup – logic only goes backwards
• thoughttrans: RT @ gapingvoid Idea-Driven People come up w Ideas (and Results), more often than Results-Driven People come up with Results (and Ideas).

Related posts:

1. A week in Tweets: 28 Mar – 4 Apr 2010
2. A week in Tweets: 7-13 Mar 2010
3. A week in Tweets: 21-27 Mar 2010
4. A week in Tweets: 7-13 Feb 2010
5. A week in Tweets: 14-20 Feb 2010