Enterprise Modeling Anti-Patterns

In a rare bit of humor from a project, take a look at the link at the end of this blog post to discover some of the following snipets of wisdom:

A process anti-pattern is a common strategy which sounds good in theory but in practice proves to be harmful, if not outright disastrous. This article overviews a collection of anti-patterns pertaining to enterprise architecture efforts within an IT organization. These anti-patterns are:

-30,000 Feet and Climbing
-Bleeding Edge
-Brain Trust Parking Lot
-Buzzword-Driven Architecture
-Detailed Enterprise Modeling
-Enterprise Parking Lot
-Goldplating
-Ivory Tower Architecture
-Modeling for Modeling's Sake
-One Truth Above All Else
-Real-World Disconnect
-Strive for Perfection
-Stuck in the Weeds
-Technology Above All
-Tomorrow Suffers From Today
-Ungrounded Future
-Yesterday's Enterprise Model


http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/enterpriseModelingAntiPatterns.htm

Technology Architect

I think the firetrucks should line up and get ready for the next step in my career, "Technology Architect."

This is in case I catch on fire from all the extra considerations and information that I must formulate when I generate a solution architecture.

As many of you know, I work for BearingPoint. Since my departure for Military Duty in October 2006 and now, the company has undertaken a big initiative to provide a career-track framework for employees that match what the employees expect. I know this is a foreign idea in business and perhaps one that could cause problems, however, it provides BearingPoint members with the capability to switch career tracks.

The company split career tracks three different ways: Management, Business and Technology.

Well, fast forward shall we? Now, it is March 2008. In the first quarter of each calendar year, the company runs an HR process that requires employees to sit down with management and declare goals, rewards, etc. So, if you set agreed upon goals and achieve the goals, then you will be compensated. This is how they generate a carrot and a stick

I'm a pretty flexible person, so when I sat down with my performance manager and he told me that he saw my best fit with the company as a Technology Architect, I agreed to make the jump. Prior to this, I was a "MANAGER."

When I returned from Afghanistan and started working, I discovered that the practice I worked for in Commercial Services was undergoing a significant change that included the departure of my MD.

For those of you who know exactly who I worked for, I want to say this: He left under his own power and was not ousted like many of the other MDs who were forced out.

Nevertheless, this left me feeling vulnerable, so I made the jump over to Public Services.

There is no difference in actual work between what I did in Commercial Services and what I do now for Public Services. However, with the career track definitions, a manager is required to manage people, projects and events. An architect delivers solutions.

I am really doing the same things but in a different light. For one, I am being asked to work on proposals as well as projects. Secondly, I am using Enterprise Architecture tools to generate models. In other words, I am doing actual architect work.

I like it.

Hopefully, one of my next projects will wrap around webMethods new stack of 7.x goodies so I can describe a solution.

Bye for now!

A new era? Or a new Chapter?

Superbowl, New England or Giants?

That's a pretty hard question to ask me because I like to watch for the sake of the game and I put aside favoritism for the win!

This is how I see work as well. I have spent the better part of the last eight years working on webMethods. I started with version 3.x and now work with version 7.x.

So, could the rhetorical question be: "Software AG/webMethods or TIBCO?"

As many of you know, I consider myself one of webMethods' biggest fans. I am extremely enthusiastic about the product and even more so now since their acquisition. webMethods certainly compliments the other product lines of Software AG. Within the last few weeks, I had an opportunity to sit down with Software AG's Global Director of Alliances and talk about the direction of webMethods and what it means to consultants.

Even though the last few blog entries have been about me getting back into the saddle, moving forward, I will move between issues relating to running the business, and technical/architectural entries.

So, this is my business plug.

Software AG is moving forward to solidify and unify the webMethods platform. Based on what I heard and some of what I have recently seen, I look forward to the next version of Fabric. I believe that they will indeed be a real player in the SOA market. In addition, I believe that there will be significant business opportunities for consultant firms to help deploy Fabric.

Software AG didn't tell me this directly. Part of my return to the workplace included calling a bunch of my old contacts. Unfortunately, many of them left as part of the acquisition, or they left shortly thereafter. However, some were still at webMethods/SAG and I met with a few of them and spoke to many of the others on the phone. The focus of the company will be more on the product development end and less on the implementation side. This will leave a huge gap for those who provide these services.

During my absence, the company restructured and redefined the career paths available. Now, there are three distinct tracks: 1) Business, 2) Management, 3) Technical. I currently am in the Management track with a focus on technical delivery. Under the new protocol, I will most likely fall under the Technical Track. My title will change from Manager to Technical Architect. This is ironic, since it is actually a demotion for me in title, however, read on.

In the beginning of this BLOG, I mentioned TIBCO. I have a greater appreciation for TIBCO since I have had an opportunity to examine the product. However, I am not totally sold on the idea of using TIBCO when I am firmly entrenched with webMethods solutions.

But, with everything else in life, you have to embrace change, or be left behind. Unlike Commercial Services where you can specialize, Public Services is structured a little differently. I am in the integration space, but it is sliced into two halves: java technology and microsoft technology. I sit squarely in the java technology space which encompasses all java solutions. Eventually, I will have the opportunity to examine the gambit of solutions.

In order for me to climb the ladder higher to become a "Sr Technical Architect", I have to become cross-trained and develop an expertise on several solution platforms. It seems like webMethods, TIBCO and java messaging will become my focus.

To VM or Not to VM: The last crazy two weeks

The last two weeks have been absolutely crazy. I spent one of these weeks up in Virginia where I had an opportunity to meet with some of the members of the new team.

Public Services certainly has some perks that Commercial Services just never had. For one, we have a lab where we can stand-up environments on-demand. Name it, we can make it happen. Any OS! I like that. Also, this department is a big user of Virtual Machines. This is an area where I have had little to no experience before I left for Afghanistan.

While over in the sand box, I had the chance to work with the 82nd Airborne Division's civilian web master. He introduced me to the concept and use of virtual machines. Although the 82nd ABN DIV deploys their applications to a "normal" production platform, he was able to demonstrate a complete enterprise setup via VM.

This leads me to my next chore, which is to stand up an entire base webMethods Fabric Solution in VMWare. I have a little time researching VMWare and will utilize VMWare's workstation product. Once I have a base configuration, I will save a copy that I will always be able to utilize as a base as well as distribute to other members of my team, who can then open up the VM on their laptops if need be.

Please keep in mind the licensing ramifications if you decide to use this for your client or your company. I am not sure how the licensing agreements address the deployment of software in a VM. Is it then by CPU or by node?

I spent this week working from home. In between conducting research and project shopping so I can get busy, I moved my home office.

While I was away in the big sand box, my wife confiscated my office and I have been relegated to working out of the living room area. Even though the amount of space was generous, the amount of noise was also generous and made it impossible to concentrate. Additionally, anytime I needed to take a phone call, I had to hunt for the spare room or go outside. Of course, this is Florida, so going outside is always a good thing.

Along with my change from Commercial to Public Services, I had to get ready for long-term work out of my house. The company is getting smarter about how they treat employees and seem to following the same path as Lockheed in that they consider it highly desirous to have employees telecommute. I realize that this isn't possible 100% of the time, but I believe that I may be able to travel perhaps less than 50% of the time rather than 100% of the time as was previous.

I digress. So in between bouts of research, phone calls, emails and the like, I installed my desk, moved the internet connection, VOIP, etc.

The amazing thing about this is that my wife was the big driver and I thought she was doing it 100% for me, but as usual with a spouse, there is always an ulterior motive. She did an extraordinary job of locating a $4K desk and then paying only $300.00 for it. My brother-in-law helped me install it. He can lift a house with his little finger, so helping me out by holding the cabinets up to the wall while I drilled holes and attached them was quite helpful.

Once the cabinets, desk, and fold-outs were all installed, I had to move all the technical stuff: Internet router, cable modem, VOIP interface, UPS bank and the servers. I also dug through some of my legacy purchases and found my US Robotics (yep, now owned by CISCO) conference phone and installed that. The only casualty of the move was my main computer. I believe that the power supply gave up as I unplugged it the very last time for the move. I have since ordered another power supply.

Believe it or not, the biggest problem I had with the move was the printer. Each pay cycle, I have to submit my time and expense report electronically and on paper. Since my main desktop is down, I needed to install the printer driver to my corporate laptop and then just plug-in the USB cable so I could print out this paperwork. Installing software is usually easy but this proved to be vexing. No matter what I did, I couldn't install the printer drivers. Oh wait, there was an instruction guide. Hmmm, the guide said to make sure your bloody virus scanner is turned off.

Wait wait, I got it. That did the trick and I am fully back in business!

Oh, and what was my wife's ulterior motive for giving up our spare bedroom for my office? I thought you would never ask!

Since I was away for so long, I missed my daugher's FIRST birthday, so this Saturday, we'll celebrate her 2nd birthday. By moving my work area from the living room to the spare bedroom, we were able to commandeer an entire room for her party.

January 16th the ball started to roll again

As my previous post suggests, I returned from my Active Duty Tour in Afghanistan in the middle of December.

It's hard to describe everything that has happened since my return, but I'll try to do it in this space since it relates to where I am at and where I am going (job-wise). I didn't do a lot for work since I was on terminal leave, but I did purchase a new blackberry and as such, I have a new number. If you know me and have my email address, then contact me for the new number.

When I first returned on December 14, 2007, I had to attend a family wedding the very next day. The wedding was great and I gained a great brother-in-law.

Then, we had company stay over for 4-5 days after. Then Christmas and then New Years arrived. I had spent two weeks at home with little to no privacy with myself, my family, etc.

It's not to say that I didn't go out and do things. For example, I spent a day going in and out of stores looking at all the great selections. This may sound strange, but over in Afghanistan, there wasn't much of a selection of anything. Imagine going to the grocery store and actually having something to choose from.

I visited Walmart first. I know that some people hate Walmart for various reasons, but there are a few things I want YOU to know about Walmart and perhaps you will think about giving them more of your money. For one, they save on average, 35-39% of the cost of food. I tallied it up and it is real. Most importantly, they ship overseas to APO addresses. So for the troops who want a choice and can get to a computer connection, anything Walmart has, you can also have, no matter how remote your location (thanks APO for your efforts as well.) I wandered around Walmart like a junkie looking for a fix. Unreal!

Second, I visited all the electronics chains like Best Buy, Circuit City and the likes. I am amazed at just how inexpensive laptop computers are now.

But, I didn't buy one personal thing for me. Not one thing since I have come home. I just wanted my freedom.

One thing I did buy, I bought for my lovely wife who stood by me and supported me 150% while I was deployed. She received the car of her dreams. I bought her a BMW X5. Not a new one, but a pre-owned model that was in excellent condition and under blue book (is there any other way for me?)

Then, we decided to take a trip to Los Angeles. I've never actually visited LA, but I have flown through there countless times on my way to Asia/Pacific. Thanks to my traveling job, I have amassed a tremendous number of hotel, rental car and frequent flier miles. For this trip, we tapped the hotel and rental car rewards.

We stayed in the Courtyard Marriott, Marina Del Rey, CA for absolutely nothing. It was quiet and in a very upscale area. Granted, it wasn't in the middle of Beverly Hills, but after scouring Frommer's Guide to LA, I didn't want to stay near any of that. It turned out to be quite a good decision. We were almost always going against traffic and everyone knows (at least from TV) how bad traffic is there.

We didn't have any particular purpose in mind, but we did have a few goals: See the stars of the Hollywood Walk of Fame; Shop in the LA Fashion District; Shop and scout out wholesale/distributors in the LA Jewelry District. We did all that and made some fantastic business contacts for our Jewelry business.

I don't often publish this, but I met my wife while I was working in Sydney, Australia. She's not Australian; she's Indonesian and from the Island of Bali. One thing she misses here in the Orlando area is a good Indonesian restaurant and the opportunity to speak her native language. In a mere five minutes of being in LAX, we saw more Indonesians than she has seen since being here in the USA (since 2004.) So, one overriding theme of this trip was to eat lots of Indonesian food and meet and mingle with her Indonesian friends. From this standpoint, the trip was a huge success. The best restaurant that we found was Ramayani in Westwood. It's been around for over 25 years. Cheap, authentic and yummy.

After almost six days of shopping and being a tourist, I decided to do something different: I went to Fry's Electronics! If you've never heard of Fry's it's a combination of Crutchfield's, Best Buy, Tiger Direct and Walmart (for electronics). They had aisle after aisle of bins containing items for you to build your own computer. I was like a Junkie getting off the plane in Amsterdam and having Customs light one up for me. It was awesome. The choices, prices and brands were top-notch. The sales associates were well-trained and very knowledgeable. And believe it or not, I actually bought something. Since my daughter broke my Philips ANR headset, I decided to replace them with a brand I had never heard of called Turtle Engineering. The headset was magnificent and the price was even better. I also bought a 2gb micro SD card for my Blackberry.

The day after I returned from Los Angeles, I had to return to work. Funny how that all works out. BearingPoint ("The Company") actually sent me a reminder to return to work on the 16th of January. Of course, this is because I contacted the leave administrator and requested that they allow me to return to work on that date. I had until April 10th to return without penalty. But as many of you know, I can't sit around with nothing to do.

So, on the 16th, I contacted leave admin and advised them that I had indeed "returned to work" as per their letter.

While I was overseas, I spent a good amount of time tracking the industry, tracking my company's progress in the market, and tracking technology. It was no surprise to me to find out that BearingPoint is in the middle of a reorganization.

Late last year, as soon as the company became current with their reporting, the CEO left for a "better opportunity" and was replaced by Mr. Harbach (whom I've never met; I met Harry You in the elevator once at Tysons.) There have been many changes!

I won't dwell on what's in the press or what analysts are saying about BearingPoint because I haven't been with the firm for the last 15 months. I will say that they provided spectacular support for my family while I was deployed in Afghanistan.

I am sad that many of my friends have departed the firm, but that happens. Many of my very good associates along with my Boss have or will soon leave the firm (it's already public.) So of course, I have to wonder why they are leaving. I just guess it happens. Opportunities come and go.

One of the things I picked up while overseas was a fully adjudicated TS/SCI clearance. With my Boss (a managing director) on his way out, I started receiving phone calls from people who wanted me to join their group. Yes, the company has a shark-mentality. This wasn't the first time another group courted me. After wading through a number of these calls, I focused on a particular managing director and I have decided to join up with his group. I will leave the Commercial Space, probably for good.

This is significant, because I had never really considered the possibility of working full-time in the public sector. The biggest reason was that all the positions that I knew about required a relocation to the greater Washington DC area. The housing is expensive, taxes high, and the traffic is horrible (probably worst than LA).

Then, I ran into this new guy and he told me that he runs a group of guys who live anywhere they want and who all travel. This looked good to me. He also offered me opportunities to advance, lead, train, and learn new products. I will start with the new group in the next week or so. I'm excited! I also have to thank Jordan B. for the heads-up. Without his lead on this, it probably would not have happened.

Anyway, the new week starts tomorrow and I have things to do like install webMethods 7.1 and get caught up on the latest SOA strategies.

In parting, I want to thank everyone who kept in contact with me while I was snorting sand in the desert.

Happy New Year

Hey Everyone! It's been a long long time, but I am finally back from my tour of duty with the US Army in Afghanistan. I've plenty of tall tales to spin, but I cannot wait to get back to work.

Hope to hear from many of you soon.

Take care!

Ray Moser

Ok, so I lied, I'll post a few more..

First, a word of thanks to all of those kind people who emailed or called me from webMethods, BearingPoint or other consulting firms that I have been affiliated with in the past. I really appreciate hearing how many people support "individual" callups, although the majority do not support the overall war effort.

I'm not really sure where I stand on the actual war, but am looking forward to being able to contribute something positive to the effort. For the many people who have worked with me in the past, you know that I attempt to keep a positive spin on everything, no matter how bad it may get. I guess this is from my sales and marketing background.

My callup date has been moved to FRIDAY the Thirteenth of October. Yup, Friday the Thirteenth. So let's start this whole thing off on a freaky kind of footing!

I'll post my APO address here once I get it in case someone wants to send me photos of themselves sunning on the beach, sailing or flying someplace better than the desert of the Middle East.

Also, I'll update my war blog on my travels and other events as practical. You can find it here:

Ray Goes To War

Also, my company, BearingPoint is looking for top-knotch consultants to join our webMethods practice. If you are interested, and have demonstrable and verifiable skills, feel free to contact me via my profile email.

Cheers,

Ray Moser

My Last Post Until I Return from Afghanistan

As I alluded to in my earlier post, I have been called to duty with the US Army.

For those who wish to follow, please check out my war blog:

http://RayGoesToWar.blogspot.com

Thanks to everyone!

Finally Finished.. the road was long with many curves..

I'm finally finished with my project. Now that I have completed this, I will discuss it in some detail.

I have spent the last few years working in or around the Washington, DC metro area. So, it is somewhat a big surprise that I would return there, since it was certainly not what I had in mind.

After I finished up my work at USAID, I came onboard with Bearingpoint. First, I started on a commercial account that took me all the way to Shanghai, China. After several weeks, I returned and started with the US Forest Service.

The Forest Service project was really a mini-project that came about because of the massive reorganization of the their budget and financial systems. The basis of the reorg was to centralize the payment processing. They chose the final location for the payment center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The project demanded the use of an ESB, web services, workflow, J2EE and Oracle. It was truly an Enterprise deployment.

After almost 9 months in Rosslyn, VA, the entire project moved to Albuquerque. I can tell you from personal experience that this is something that should be avoided midway in a project. This isn't the only project that required a move.

Since you have the background, now the details:

In a gist, we automated a process that has been paper-driven for decades. For many many years, the US Forest Service used a paper process to pay their vendors for services ranging from Air Tankers and Helicopters, to port-a-potties. For those familiar, if you pay early, you take a discount, pay late, pay a penalty. The trouble was that it was the system made it difficult to pay on time because of the numerous checks and balances required for payment approval.

BearingPoint stepped in to architect and develop a J2EE, webMethods Workflow application that automates data collection and verification and permits the human requirement for approval.

The Integration Server provides hub and spoke capability between a variety of systems. There are also ties with other agencies to share non-sensitive data and to aid in required congressional reporting.

All-in-all, I did learn some interesting things about webMethods 6.5.1. The support I received from the webMethods Government Team was excellent.

Ray Goes to War; Global War on Terrorism

On July 20, at 8:50am, I received a phone call from my section Sergeant advising me that I have been called up for duty in Afghanistan.

It's unfortunate and bad timing that the callup occurred so soon after I rejoined the reserves. Also unusual, is the number of people: 10.

Apparently, another reserve unit was called up and they didn't have enough people, so the Army cherry-picked people with certain skills or levels of experience.

I'm still working on my current project and will post one more time to let everyone know that I am finished and to provide more details of the future.

Thank you everyone!