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Articles

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The Leadership Engine for the Journey to Operational Excellence

Contributed by:

Marvin Wurtzel, Faculty Member, BPMInstitute.org and Principal Consultant, Marvin M. Wurtzel & Associates, Inc.

In order to initiate Operational Excellence we focus on establishing the structures, tools, methodologies and systems required. The manage program phase sustains that work by providing ongoing oversight and leadership for this initiative. In this phase the executive leadership attends to the following ongoing responsibilities:

• Sets and deploys enterprise goals and strategies via core business processes.
• Manages program-level plans and accountabilities.
• Monitors priority process performance and related interventions.
• Maintains alignment between enterprise structures, systems, and core business processes.
•Leverages best practices across the enterprise.
The ultimate objective is that these responsibilities gradually become integrated into the fabric of enterprise management practices. That is, they become “the way we do things around here.” We will discuss these responsibilities in greater detail in the following.

Busting Organizational Silos with Business Process Management

Contributed by:

Samantha BureauJohnson, VP, PMO and BPE, BCBSNC

Today’s business is global, spanning across supply chains, project delivery chains and changing fundamental business models. It is harder and harder to get clear line of sight into and accountability for how a business is operating. In addition to the shift to a global model, businesses require a matrix to link together the conventional organizational structures of functional and divisional models. Traditional business management models are not keeping up with the need to be more adaptable to the customers and markets they serve, thus the introduction of matrix management models.

A matrix model can be extremely effective if you can resolve the inherent conflict it creates. This takes hard work and active engagement to manage. Alexis Writing’s article “Different Types of Organizational Structure”, gives a good description of the matrix challenge.

Matrix

Boundary Information Structures

Contributed by:

Doug McDavid, Mr., DougMcDavid Enterprises

1.0 Introduction

Let’s take a few minutes to explore a subject that’s at the heart of the challenge of running a business, and by extension, also at the heart of providing expert architectural services on behalf of business leadership. This discussion will focus on approach to analyzing and designing effective communications among disciplines and specialists.

OpEx – PART OF or SEPARATE FROM Business Transformation?

Contributed by:

Rick Hepp, Trainer, Coach & Mentoir for Enterprise Excellence, Consultant and Trainer

By its very name, Operational Excellence (OpEx) has held a traditional operations approach in most corporate visions and as a result been strongest in manufacturing operations/production sites or within department/functional operational lines of organizations.

Does the traditional operational approach create a “Separate From” business strategic linkage in corporate visions?

Historical Deployment and Engagement of OpEx

From OpEx early days as Six Sigma and Lean – the methodologies, tools and techniques were leveraged as a continuous improvement mindset with Cost Savings as King although it has evolved over the years at mature organizations to include waste elimination, improved process flow & efficiencies, enhanced capacity, and a quality/compliance driver.

The Business Architect’s Journey: Top-Three Qualities for Success

Contributed by:

Simona Lovin, Director of Operations and Strategic Initiatives, Leidos

Picture this scenario: You are brimming with excitement as you start your engagement with a brand-new client - a client who had persuasively spoken to you their company’s capability-driven approach to architecture and its commitment to building a Business Architecture competency. A client who, in preliminary discussions, had emphasized their urgent need for seasoned experts (such as yourself) to guide the more junior Business Architects. The importance of personal leadership and of having the requisite fortitude to stand by your recommendations had been emphasized. (Your certainly don’t lack either of these traits). The existence of some challenges might have been mentioned. (But what reality is that where there are no challenges...?)

The Leadership Principle: Executive Impact on Agile

Contributed by:

Robert Woods, Director, National Agile Practice, MATRIX Resources

It’s not a secret anymore. I’m not sure it ever was a secret.

There are many differentiators that can ultimately impact whether or not an organization succeeds or fails in their adoption\transformation with Agile. But, none are as impactful as that of leadership influence. We’re not just talking about the “I don’t care what you call yourself as long as I get what I want faster” apathetic leadership. We’re talking about something much more meaningful and impactful.

DMN – To FEEL or Not to FEEL

Contributed by:

Brian Stucky, Managing Director, Business Decision Management, Allegiance Advisory Group

As the number and maturity of platforms supporting the Decision Model and Notation (DMN) standard continues to grow, it is time to take a look at the third Conformance Level defined in DMN. The Friendly Enough Expression Language (FEEL) is the language used by DMN to formalize decision logic in applicable points of a decision model. Conformance Level 3 supplements the notation and modeling in Conformance Level 1 and the decision table support defined in S-FEEL (simple Friendly Enough Expression Language) of Level 2 with the full FEEL expression language. FEEL provides powerful capabilities to satisfy the needs of DMN:

Built-in types, functions and operators
Enables a formal expression that can define every decision in a model
Formal expressions that may be encapsulated as functions • Supports abstraction, composition, and scalability

With this capability in mind, let’s remind ourselves of the stated goals of DMN:

Lessons from the Field: The Adaptable Business Architect

Contributed by:

Dean Heltemes, Senior Director, Ameriprise Financial

The other day my daughter said, "Dad, I really don't understand what your job is." Many days I am not so sure either. I thought about saying, "I help to align strategic objectives and tactical demands," but knew that wouldn't lead us anywhere. Usually I answer this question by saying I go to meetings and read e-mails for a living, but that joke is getting old. This time I told her that I will explain it to her when she grows up. Part of the reason this has always been a hard question to answer is that my role seems to shift month to month and initiative to initiative. This is also part of the reason I love what I do. I believe that adaptability is a key trait exhibited by good architects, but saying you are adaptable and actually being adaptable are two different things. So what are some of the key ways to demonstrate your adaptability? Don't get into turf wars, bring the right temperament, and think big, or rather act big.

Avoid Turf Wars

4 Critical Factors in Digital Transformation Success

Contributed by:

Andrew Spanyi, Faculty Member, DBizInstitute.org and Managing Director, Spanyi International

The term ‘Digital Transformation’ has taken its place in today’s business vocabulary. It’s on the lips of virtually every IT vendor, most management consultants and an increasing number of executives.

Disguising Analysis: Making the Medicine Go Down

Contributed by:

Alan Ramias, Partner, Performance Design Lab

Ask process improvement experts (which I have done over the years in teaching and consulting with such people) what is the hardest part of doing a process improvement project and they tend to say analysis. And in fact, it’s not just among process practitioners that you will hear people say that analysis is their most challenging activity: training program developers, organizational effectiveness types, change management coaches, etc., also tend to cite analysis as the toughest aspect of their work.