Staging the storya people-oriented view of EA

Tom Graves, Tetradian ConsultingUnicom EA Conference, London, September 2013

the futures of business

Hi.

I’m Tom.(That’s all of the PR stuff out of the way...)

Yes, this is EA…(well, part of it, anyway…)

CC-BY-SA MysteryBee via Flickr

…but where are the peoplein this story?

(…because ‘enterprise’ is people…)

CC-BY-SA MysteryBee via Flickr

“The world is made of stories”

• The enterprise itself is a story –an overarching theme

• Enterprise as ongoing story of relations between people – the actors of the story

• Enterprise-story comprised of smaller stories – the scenes or story-lines (aka ‘processes’)

• Enterprise-story takes place in a setting – the stage and its context (technology), location, props (artefacts) etc

• Stories thrive on conflict, tension and uncertainty – in contrast to machines, which generally don’t…

Technology

CC-BY-SA xdxd_vs_xdxd via Flickr

Process

People

Stage

CC-BY-SA xdxd_vs_xdxd via Flickr

Scene

Actor

ActorStage

Stage

Stage

Stage

Stage

Scene

Scene

“Process is the use of structure (the organisation view)

Plot is the unfolding of story(the enterprise view)”

Tom Graves, The Enterprise As Story, Tetradian, 2012

Plot and process

“An organisation is bounded byrules, roles and responsibilities;

an enterprise is bounded byvision, values and commitments.”

Tom Graves, Mapping the Enterprise, Tetradian, 2010

Whose story?

Organisation aligns with structure, enterprise with story.We need a balance of both for the architecture to work.

A useful guideline: “The enterprise in scope

should be three steps largerthan the organisation in scope.”

Tom Graves, Mapping the Enterprise, Tetradian, 2010

Whose story?

Whose story?

If the organisation says it ‘is’ the enterprise,there’s no shared-story - and often, no story at all.

Whose story?

The minimum real enterprise is the supply-chain - a story of shared transactions.

Whose story?

The organisation and enterprise of the supply-chain take place within a broader organisation of the market.

Whose story?

The market itself exists within a context of ‘intangible’ interactions with the broader shared-enterprise story.

A stakeholder in the storyis anyonewho can wielda sharp-pointed stakein your direction…

CC-BY-NC-SA evilpeacock via Flickr

Whose story?

(Hint: there are a lot more of them than you might at first think…)

Perspectives on the story

• Outside-out: Big-picture ‘world’, beyond even the market• Outside-in: View from ‘outside’ into organisation• Journey: Touchpoints between ‘outsider’ and organisation• Inside-out: View from the organisation’s perspective• Inside-in: View of the organisation to inside itself

Inside-in…

CC-BY Myrmi via Flickr

always at risk of

drowning in the detail…

Inside-out…

CC-BY – Paul – via Flickr

We create an architecturefor an organisation,

but about a broader enterprise.

Outside-in…

CC-BY Fretro via Flickr

“Customers do not appear

in our processes,we appear in

their experiences.”Chris Potts, recrEAtion, Technics, 2010

CC-BY Matt Brown via Flickr

Outside-out…

There’s always a larger scope…

Inside-out? or outside-in?

“What’s the story?”“A cast of thousands!”

Who are the actors?

CC-BY Mike Babcock via Flickr

Actors – the IT-view?

CC-BY jurvetson via Flickr

“Computer stole my face…”

CC-BY justin pickard via Flickr

A human view

CC-BY andré luís via Flickr

Actors – the human view?

CC-BY-SA izzard via Flickr

How we really think…

CC-BY Brett Jordan via Flickr

“What’s the story?”“What’s the story?”

The structure of the story

CC-BY-SA Neil Cumming via Flickr

What kind of story?

SCRIPTED(simple rules and checklists)

CC-BY The-Vikkodamus via Flickr CC-BY-SA seeminglee via Flickr

IMPROVISED(guidelines and principles)

ANALYSED(complicated algorithms)

ADAPTED(complex patterns)

“Each traverse througha business-process

is a self-contained storywith its own actors, actions

and events”

Tom Graves, The Enterprise As Story, Tetradian, 2012

Process as story

Scenes in the story

Split story into identifiable scenes, with begin, middle, end

CC-BY TheArches via Flickr

Scenes in the story

Process-story as identifiable scenes, with begin, middle, end

Show, don’t tell

Each line of action drives the story forwardCC-BY TheArches via Flickr

Show, don’t tell

Each line of action drives the story forwardCC-BY-ND Kecko via Flickr

The role of props

Each item has its place, and drives the story onward

CC-BY TheArches via Flickr

Each item has its place, and drives the story onward

CC-BY-ND Kecko via Flickr

The role of props

“What’s the stagefor the story?”

Staging the story

CC-BY-SA passer-by via Flickr

Infrastructure and systems etc as the stage

Staging the story

Infrastructure and systems etc as the stage

CC-BY-ND Costa Rica’s Call Center via Flickr

Visible and invisible

What needs to be behind the curtain? What in front?

CC-BY Mickey Thurman via Flickr

Visible and invisible

What state is that infrastructure in, behind the curtain?CC-BY Princess Theatre via Flickr

Visible and invisible

What state is that infrastructure in, behind the curtain?CC-BY-SA LanSmash via Flickr

Where is the story?

How does the stage describe the location of each scene?CC-BY-SA Tim Evanson via Flickr

Where is the story?

How does the stage describe the location of each scene?CC-BY-SA Intel Free Press via Flickr

Where is the story?

How does the stage describe the location of each scene?CC-BY-SA Tomas Caspers via Flickr

Where is the story?

How does the stage describe the location of each scene?CC-BY-SA conskeptical via Flickr

Setting the moodHow does the stage-set itself drive the story forward?

CC-BY-SA Eva Rinaldi via Flickr

Setting the moodHow does the stage-set itself drive the story forward?

CC-BY State Farm via Flickr

Maintain the mood

Computers may not have feelings, but people do:how does the stage-set support the mood we need?

CC-BY-ND alanclarkdesign via Flickr

Maintain the mood

Computers may not have feelings, but people do:how does the stage-set support the mood we need?

CC-BY-ND alanclarkdesign via Flickr

Framing the picture

In what ways does the frame itself constrain the action?CC-BY aleutia via Flickr

Framing the picture

CC-BY Vlima.com via Flickr

In what ways does the frame itself constrain the action?

Transmedia stories

Different scenes and sub-stories can take place on different media – but it’s the same overall story

CC-BY-SA tStoryteller via Flickr

Transmedia stories

Different scenes and sub-stories can take place on different media – but it’s the same overall story

CC-BY-ND Christoph Mueller-Girod via Flickr

Transmedia stories

Different scenes and sub-stories can take place on different media – but it’s the same overall story

CC-BY-ND Christoph Mueller-Girod via Flickr

Transmedia stories

Different scenes and sub-stories can take place on different media – but it’s the same overall story

CC-BY-ND Christoph Mueller-Girod via Flickr

Transmedia stories

Different scenes and sub-stories can take place on different media – but it’s the same overall story

CC-BY-ND Christoph Mueller-Girod via Flickr

Transmedia stories

Different scenes and sub-stories can take place on different media – but it’s the same overall story

CC-BY-ND Christoph Mueller-Girod via Flickr

Transmedia stories

Different scenes can take place on different media:still the same overall story – if maybe with a new twist…

CC-BY Gulltaggen via Flickr

A challenge of continuity

How is continuity maintained across all those different media?CC-BY OpenPlaques via Flickr

A challenge of continuity

Who has the choices to switch between media?CC-BY-SA tStoryteller via Flickr

It’s all about the experienceA well-executed story creates delight in the audience –especially when there’s an unexpected good ending!

“The world is made of stories”

• The enterprise itself is a story –an overarching theme

• Enterprise as ongoing story of relations between people – the actors of the story

• Enterprise-story comprised of smaller stories – the scenes or story-lines (aka ‘processes’)

• Enterprise-story takes place in a setting – the stage and its context (technology), location, props (artefacts) etc

• Stories thrive on conflict, tension and uncertainty – in contrast to machines, which generally don’t…

A final word…

It’s the ‘small stories’ that often help usto highlight hidden assumptions

and expectations…

…the kind of assumptions and expectationsthat can bring a system to a grinding halt…

Wise advice…

CC-BY-SA Tim Samoff via Flickr

“What’s the story?”“What’s the story?”“What’s the storyfor your enterprise?”

Contact: Tom Graves

Company: Tetradian Consulting

Email: tom@tetradian.com

Twitter: @tetradian ( http://twitter.com/tetradian )

Weblog: http://weblog.tetradian.com

Slidedecks: http://www.slideshare.net/tetradian

Publications: http://tetradianbooks.com

Books: • The enterprise as story: the role of narrative in enterprise-architecture (2012)

• Mapping the enterprise: modelling the enterprise as services with the Enterprise Canvas (2010)

• Everyday enterprise-architecture: sensemaking, strategy, structures and solutions (2010)

• Doing enterprise-architecture: process and practice in the real enterprise (2009)

Further information: