David Sprott

Do you remember when computers were hard to use? In fact it's just nine years since a GM press release asserted that if they developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars that for no reason at all, would crash twice a day, shut down and refuse to restart. Since then Apple has showed Microsoft the way, and we all use smart phones, tablets and PCs that are genuinely easy to use and remarkably resilient. Because of this great leap forward in personal device usability the smart phone user on the proverbial Clapham Omnibus might reasonably expect that enterprise systems should be similarly easy to use and resilient. Unless of course she was a customer of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), in which case she will have painful memories of last year's high profile failure caused by the core banking system crash which corrupted tens of millions of accounts. ... (more)

Back to the Future with The Theory of Constraints

In so many situations today I find business people are much more savvy with IT than they used to be only 10 years ago. And while this is a fantastic advance, the result is they are MUCH more likely to dictate the solution right from the outset. I marvel at how very senior business executives are now so conversant with the specifics of application architecture, particular packages they wish to use and Cloud deployment architecture. But of course this level of direction frequently facilitates rapid action, but without full and thorough understanding of the business issues. We know ... (more)

Framework for Service Oriented Ecosystem

I note interesting debates about the need for a next-generation EA framework. However I am disappointed by the less than radical nature of debate that, at least I, have observed. I submit a good place to start is with the fundamental nature of business and how it is evolving and to consider what the enterprise of the future looks like. There are many indicators that we are entering a new phase of IT exploitation that will represent a real paradigm shift. Paul Krugman suggests IT is at last becoming significant, enabling a technology revolution to rival previous technology revolut... (more)

Agile Architecture

The English language is well known for its subtlety. Sometimes it’s a delight, but on other occasions it can be very frustrating. If I use the term Gothic Architecture you will immediately understand I am describing a style of architecture that flourished in medieval times. And if like me you are interested in ecclesiastical architecture you will know that this style was used in many of the great cathedrals and churches across Europe, which were distinctive because of key architectural patterns that enabled great increases in height and internal light of the buildings without inc... (more)

Understanding Business Services 2

In December 2006 I blogged on the topic of Explaining SOA to the Business Audience. It started out "I note resurgent interest in LegoTM blocks as a metaphor for explaining to the business audience the value of SOA. My advice is don't treat the business audience as dummies!" The blog goes on to explain business services using the Laundry metaphor, and how business people get the concept because they understand "services". However, while my explanation was and remains perfectly okay, I will be the first to admit that I have moved on. The basic service model works perfectly, but in... (more)