Adventures in Consulting

Windows 7

Just upgraded my laptop from Vista to windows 7 - not a single issue!

Leadership Books for the CIO

Dave Wennergren, deputy chief information officer of the Defense Department recommended these books as his top ten for CIOs:

 

1. “Leadership is an Art” by Max DePree (CEO of Herman Miller)
2. “The Power of Alignment” by George Labovitz and Victor Rosansky
3. “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done” by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
4. “The Speed of Trust” by Stephen M. R. Covey ( Dr.  Covey’s son )
5. “Good to Great” by Jim Collins
6. “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell
7. “The Innovator’s Dilemma” by Clayton Christensen
8. “Polarity Management” by Barry Johnson
9. “Leading Change” by John Kotter
10. “Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything” by Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams

DoD Agency Awards Exalt Consulting Group IV&V Contract

been busy with this new contract . . .

ARLINGTON, Va., September 5 , 2008 –The Business Transformation Agency (BTA) within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded Exalt Consulting Group a prime contract valued at $17.5 million for Independent Validation and Verification (IV&V) of products and deliverables. The effort is intended to assess conformance with established guidelines for transition planning, enterprise architecture, and solution development.

Exalt, a management consulting firm specializing in information technology (IT) strategy and enterprise architecture, won the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract for a maximum of five years. Exalt has partnered with Capgemini Government Solutions LLC, which will provide IV&V implementation, and brings extensive experience with enterprise solutions with transformation initiatives, performance measurement and testing, quality assurance and IV&V around ERP implementations.

BTA’s mission is to guide the transformation of business operations to more agile practices throughout the DoD. The enormous scale of DoD – a $660 billion budget, 2.9 million people, and a supply chain of 5.2 million items – makes it the largest business operation in the United States. In its request for proposal, the agency said it expects that IV&V will guide the DoD toward greater efficiency because “IV&V is essential to ensuring the BTA delivers quality, effective solutions to the business challenges facing the DoD.”

A significant factor in winning this contract was Exalt’s unique BASSE™ IV&V methodology, which takes traditional IV&V that analyzes how efficiently software systems work, and expands that analysis to associated business systems. As a result, organizations can see the impact of software systems on the organization, the return on investment, productivity improvement, and any gaps with the planned targets.

“Our methodology was a clear differentiator in achieving this contract because it takes IV&V to the next level,” says Andrew Heifetz, partner and co-founder of Exalt. “By taking a top-down look at strategy and systems under development, and a bottom-up view of what elements are common and which can be changed across the DoD, we will provide BTA with measurements of key performance indicators around product quality, process improvement, organizational capability, and mission fulfillment.”

Federal mandates in recent years have made these assessments a requirement in order to avoid an IT landscape with duplication and gaps. The General Accounting Office’s Architecture Management Maturity Framework measures the capacity of an agency’s enterprise architecture program, while the Office of Management and Budget measures the program’s capability and compliance. The IV&V program at BTA will help comply with these complementary requirements, as well as help the agency meet its goal of transforming business operations throughout DoD and delivering enterprise-level capabilities that align to war-fighter needs.

DoDAF Conference

My company is speaking at a DoDAF 2.0 conference . . . 

Exalt Consulting Group to Participate in Conference on New DoD Technology Standard

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 27, 2008 – Two partners from Exalt Consulting Group will have central roles in next week’s conference on the Department of Defense Architectural Framework 2.0, the standard that will improve interoperability and enterprise data sharing within the network-centric battle space.  Exalt’s Andrew Heifetz will make introductory remarks as the chairperson on the second day.

 

            Hosted by the Institute for Government Defense and Advancement, the U.S. Department of Defense Fall Symposium is a three-day conference that will outline the upgrades of DoDAF 2.0 and its data-centric approach to architecting that is based on the establishment, maintenance, and discipline of a formal architecture metadata structure.  The event is essential for the systems engineering industry because it provides architectural examples for modeling complex systems, which can lead to development of new defense capabilities.

    

Interview with Steve Fisher

I was interviewed by Steve Fisher on his blog about entrepreneurship.  Here is the transcript of the interview:

 

Andy is no stranger to software development. For the past 15 years he has worked for companies like Ernst & Young and founded the software consultancy, Avollution. Most recently, he partnered up with Otis Lee and formed Exalt Consulting. Exalt is a fast growing software solutions firm based in the DC metro area with a focus on Enterprise, Integration Solution and Infrastructure Architecture. They recently were awarded the prime contract from the Business Transformation Agency (BTA) within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) valued at $17.5 million for Independent Validation and Verification (IV&V) of products and deliverables. The effort is intended to assess conformance with established guidelines for transition planning, enterprise architecture, and solution development. I recently had the chance to sit down with him to discuss his experiences as an entrepreneur and the future of software solution development. Here is the transcript of that interview:

Steve: You recently formed Exalt Consulting with Otis Lee, a veteran in the government contracting space. Could you tell us a little bit about what Exalt is doing now and its long-term vision?
Andy: Exalt Consulting Group is focused almost exclusively on architecture. Architecture is broad term in the IT industry. We categorize architecture into four areas or levels: enterprise, integration, solution, and data center. We’re building practice areas in each of these four areas and expanding both in commercial and federal industries.

Steve: Since you are both serial entrepreneurs and have been through many business cycles, with the economy in a tough spot these days, do you feel it is a good time to start a business?
Andy: Entrepreneurial ventures are not as dependant on the macro economy as other businesses. Entrepreneurship is about seizing new opportunities – discovering a new niche or finding an innovative way to solve of problem. A bad economy can actually create these conditions as customers are ready to challenge the status quo. With every problem there is an opportunity.

Steve: One question I get from people thinking about starting a business is “do I need a business plan”? I tell them that if they are a freelancer and selling their skills, they don’t, but… if they are planning to grow a business that they can’t run without one. What is your philosophy on this type of thing?
Andy: I whole heartily believe everyone should have a business plan. I know it’s a cliché, but the thought process of planning is critical for a new venture - even if you’re not planning on raising money.

However, I’m not saying everyone needs a 40 page MBA style business plan (which is how I started out). I really like Guy Kawasaki’s advice from the book The Art of Start – begin with a 10 slide power point deck. We have one for internal use only that gets update every quarter.

Steve: Your firm has been focused on providing IT architecture solutions. How has this type of consulting model evolved in the last few years? How do you feel it is used most effectively in a business environment?
Andy: On the commercial side, US companies are asking us to provide oversight, or independent validation, of their off shore development. The off shore companies in India and China are good and getting very sophisticated at development. However, they often have a very hard time seeing the big picture, understanding dependencies across silos and aligning to the business goals – the classic areas enterprise architecture addresses.

Steve: As a follow up question, are you focused on any particular technology as your central technology solution, what are the benefits and possible pitfalls to being focused on one technology?
Andy: This is an important question and one that is based on the kind of company you want to be. The type of architecture work we do requires us to be technology agnostic – it’s hard to be a “trusted advisor” if your pitching a specific vendor or technology.

I’ve seen a lot of very successful companies focus on a single technology – take Salesforce.com implementations for example. Hitching yourself to a shooting star can be great. If you focus, it’s paramount to understand the business model and channel programs of the vendor (or technology) you are supporting.

Steve: Do you find any big differences in the commercial and federal clients you work with?
Andy: Not much - just the difference between night and day. Seriously, the differences between the two cannot be understated.

Federal contracting has a very long sales cycle, 1-2 years with a 30 day proposal window. Federal procurement or acquisition has its own unique rules and regulations. One the positive side, working with federal government gives you a chance the work on really important projects that impact people’s lives and on a scale that is unprecedented. For example, the Defense Department’s Supply Chain dwarfs Wal-mart’s – and there is a lot more at stake.

We’re unique in that we’re about 50% commercial and 50% federal. One of our differentiators is that we can cross pollinate architecture best practices across the divide.

Steve: We know you are focused on providing architecture solutions, do you have any plans to develop products of your own?
Andy: Ah . . . the holy grail of consulting! Every consulting company I ever met wants to productize a solution to sell as a full blown product. Unfortunately, this is extremely difficult. Professional service organizations have a fundamentally different business model that doesn’t lend its self to product development. Client or service delivery always trumps internal projects.

I spent several years at a leading Global consulting company trying to develop a product. Even an organization of this scale with enormous resources found it very challenging.

But, it doesn’t mean Exalt won’t try to spin off a product at some point – the allure is just that strong.

Steve: According to Gartner, “Web 2.0” is in the “Trough of Disillusionment” and projects that over the next 12-18 months, since the hype has worn off, that these technologies will be folded into mainstream software development and adoption. Do you agree or disagree and why?
Andy: I agree up to a point. Certain web 2.0 technologies are already part of mainstream software development. After all AJAX was developed to mimic the rich UI of traditional desktop software.

However, I think we are just at the tip of the iceberg on using web 2.0 concepts for businesses. Corporations are just starting to apply web 2.0 practices to “business to business” activities. Just think about all the time spent collaborating within an organization – meetings, proposals, planning, operations. For example, we’re working with an engineering firm that is using web 2.0 ideas to improve their level 3 support processes. The key isn’t the technology, it’s how it s applied in new ways to solve business problems.

Steve: To close our interview I would like to get a “Top 5” from both of you. Since we are facing some tough economic times ahead for possibly the next 12-18 months, what are the Top 5 things you would recommend to consulting firms like yours running a business should do to weather the storm?
Andy: The crisis is unprecedented. It is still a cliché but, Cash is King. Its lets you make some mistakes without losing the company. That is what I would focus on for the next 12 months.

Is SOA going the way of object oriented programming?

During the earlier 90s, Object Orientated Programming (OOP) was hailed as a great improvement that would create wide spread re-use, faster development times, and better business alignment through models.   OOP is still valued programming paradigm - it just isn’t discussed by business executives. 

Fast forward to new millennium, service orientated architecture is hailed as the next big thing that will provide wide spread re-use, faster development times, instant interoperability, and (according to some vendors) bring peace to the galaxy. 

As there are no silver bullets, will SOA go the way of OOP?   Will SOA become a useful paradigm for software engineers and architects but not talked about by executives in the boardroom?

The answer depends on your perspective of a service.  There are two very different ways to look at what a service means.  There is the technical viewpoint that is rooted in web services and the business view point that a service is something you buy and sell. 

From a technical viewpoint, SOA is nothing more than Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) but with open standards.   I don’t want to diminish the importance of open standards (XML, SOAP, REST, WS-*, etc.).   These standards are a great improvement over the old proprietary EAI tools that needed custom adapters for everything.  But at the core, SOA is just a better mouse trap than its forerunners like EDI and EAI. 

From the business viewpoint, SOA is more interesting.  A service implies a defined service level which you can create an agreement that can be priced.  By encapsulating a service in an SLA, business can offer services for a profit or outsource services with a clear ROI.  The architecture part of SOA now covers SLA monitoring, billing, provisioning, etc.  (all the aspects of classic OSS/BSS).   Business executives will always be looking for ways to offer new services and or cut costs by using someone’s services.   

In conclusion, the future of SOA really depends on your perspective. 

 

(C) 2007-2008 Exalt Consulting Group

Promising Process Modeling Tool

I've been using the Eclipse Process Framework (EPF) to create methodologies for a couple of clients.  The EPF projects includes a tool call composer, that lets users author and then publish processes.  Consultants are often call upon to develop a processes, approaches, or whole methodologies for clients.  This open source tool has a lot of advantages over traditional "dusty binder" deliverables. 

 

The tool allows the creation of the various components of a methodology including roles, responsibilities, activities, guidance, best practices,  tools, work products, etc.

 

 

 

 

If your familiar with the Rational Unified Process (RUP), you'll recognize EPF.  EPF (or an IBM derivative)  was used to create the new versions of RUP .   A lot of RUP's process modeling conventions can be seen through the framework. 

 

While EPF is was designed for software process engineering, we've used it for decidedly non-software processes like IT operations, business architecture, and general management practices.   The meta-model is very strict and not so easy to customize.  But, it covers about 80% of the necessary topics so its still and effective solution. 

 

 

One of the main benefits is the HTML output.  By combining this html output with social networking tools (blogs, wiki), you can create a interactive and dynamic process guidance.  This is much more effective than  the dusty binder delivery approach used by most methodologies.  In conclusion, EPF is a nice framework to have in the toolbox.   

Congratulations to GeoEye!

One Delta II Rocket  . . . $100 M

New Satellite & Ground Systems  . . . $250 M

Watching  the Enterprise Service Bus you helped design, build, and test  work on launch day - priceless

Congratulations to GeoEye on launch of GE-1 - the world's high resolution commercial imaging satellite! 

B|D|A|T|S(TM) Architecture Methodology

After several years of developing and using architectures we developed our B|D|A|T|S™ architecture methodology.  "B|D|A|T|S” symbolizes the business, data, application, technical, and security views of an architecture. We expanded the core methodology to cover and federate four levels of architecture: enterprise, integration, solutions, infrastructure.  Enterprise architecture looks across the entire organization as well as the eco-system of suppliers and customers.   Integration architecture looks at a family of systems and end-to-end processes whiles solutions architecture address a single system.  Infrastructure architecture deals the shared data centers and core services.  This level is more applicable if you’re building the "cloud" instead of using it.   

One the biggest problems we encounter, is that everyone has a different take on what architecture means to them.  One person’s enterprise architecture can be another person’s solution architecture.      Applying B|D|A|T|S™ views across the four levels really helps us overcome the ambiguous meaning of architecture and define its purpose and scope (“fit for purpose”).  For example, the business view of enterprise architecture is very different from the business view of infrastructure architecture.  The enterprise layer would look at the business model and capabilities while the infrastructure layer would focus on service catalogs and levels The other important aspect of the methodology is the ability to federate or link across the layers.  This provides line of site from the business model to the individual applications and projects.  It allows different architects to maintain the right level of abstract to suit their objectives - but still have the ability, when needed, to drill down to more detail or drill up for a bigger picture.

   

Federation is an important concept since most enterprise architectures are simply too large and complex to be described within a single integrated architecture (and by a single architectural team). A single architecture would be either too abstract and wouldn't be useful (30,000 feet and climbing anti-pattern), or would need to compile massive amounts of data that would be impractical (boiling the ocean anti-pattern).  The federation approach allows for distributing, linking, and discovering architectural information across disparate teams.

Slide Library

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 (MOSS 2007) has an interesting new Slide Library feature that we're testing out.  It allows you to publish a power point presentation to SharePoint.  Each slide becomes its own document allowing you to version control each  slide independently.  You can then easily resemble just the slide you want for a presentation.  We're trying this out initially for our marketing material. 

This could be a real benefit for organizations, like consulting companies, that rely a lot on power point for deliverables (not just presentations).  Power Point is still the best low cost desktop publishing  & diagramming tool.