I’m currently reading Neal Fishman’s Viral Data in SOA and really enjoying it.  What great timing on the analogy he’s using: the fact that data tends to move around from person to system to system to person in a manner that isn’t always controllable, at least not the way most people think it is.

Fishman is the Program Director for Information and Integration Forensics at IBM.  I’ve always said that data architecture is much more about forensics and archeology than it is about creating something from scratch.  Maybe that’s why I’m enjoying this work so much.  Fishman is also one of the authors of Enterprise Architecture Using the Zachman Framework.

Watch for a full review once I’m finished.

This clip is a bit longer than other ones.

Mr. Blandings has purchased a house, visioning

I love the scenes where outside consultants have been brought in to evaluate the new purchase, after the fact.  My favourite quotes:

“Who needs engineers; it’s not a train you know?”

“Tear it down”

“Tear it down”

“Tear it down”

“I don’t see how we can bring it in for less than 12, or 12,500”

(This clip includes the previous clip about marking up the architectural diagrams at about 6 minutes in)

I do love, though, when business users work right on their own models, marking them up, making them their own.  That’s my sign that modeling has truly been adopted in an organization.

I work really hard when I present to business users to avoid the normal IT bafflegab / dujamakicey lingo, but I know that we struggle with this.

When I present at groups like DAMA (dama.org) , I sometimes get feedback that I’ve used a term, such as ERD or LDM that might not be clearly understood by everyone in the crowd.  This is a tough call, as I want to make some assumptions about the audience at DAMA meetings so as to balance time allotted against the desire to deliver content that is useful for data architects.  It’s very painful to have a presenter speak at a DAMA or IRMAC meeting and have him spend half the time explaining what a database is and what a data model is.

So while I do encourage attendees to ask if I use a term or concept that is unfamiliar to them, most won’t ask.

Remember to watch your turbo encabulators when collaborating with others.  We are all guilty of this.

Thanks to @ldbjorh for the link to this video.

Another video clip from Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House.

I’ve worked with people who spend time with business users and can only hear “Red, Green Blue, Yellow, White. Check” after business rules have been explained many times.  It’s no wonder business people think that we don’t listen.

Models are such a great resource for the business because we can show them that we heard what they said.  Or that we didn’t.  At least that issue comes up much earlier.

As I posted previously, I think that Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is the perfect classic film for enterprise, data, and process architects.  In this scene, Myrna Loy and Cary Grant work with an architect in reviewing his models for a new home in the country.

Of course, they don’t have a lot of money to spend on their new digs, but they sure have lots of requirements. It appears that most of the film is available for viewing on YouTube, but I still highly recommend you add a copy to your personal library.  It’s that good.