change at the speed of now: the innovation curve

Change at the Speed of Now

The Innovation Curve: In Front of it, or Behind?

© 2014 Malcolm Ryder / archestra research

“In today’s trend and gadget crazed world, are IT Leaders truly driving innovation

or are they mainly reacting to it? How does a CIO get in front of

the innovation curve rather than be pushed from behind?” *

* Conference agenda, Archestra Research and Pink Elephant Inc., PinkForum14, Aug 2014

The Innovation Curve. Prepared, or Shocked?

• Breaking wave?

• Batter up?

• Drive through?

or go under

or strike out

or spin out

Catch the ride!

Connect!

Find the Angle!

THE SHOCK OF THE NEWAre IT Leaders truly driving innovation or are they mainly reacting to it?

What is SHOCK? Mainly, PARALYSIS• Sudden disability of indefinite duration• Paralysis of ability to respond to impact

• Not mostly failure to expect (i.e., surprise)• Instead, often largely due to underestimation

• Why did underestimation occur?

Numerous ways to be caught unprepared…

How is NEW important? RISK

• Three kinds of impact: Add/Change/Delete

• Add = Expands options

• Change = Modifies existing options• Corrective, incremental, overcomes a constraint

• Delete = Replaces options

• Solution to each has three considerations: viability/impact/controllability


How is Speed important? PRESSURE• Velocity of Change presents three kinds of problems:

proximity/readiness/duration

• Proximity: “Soon” or Sudden• Disruptive to the Usual flow?

• Readiness• Must choose source/provider

• Duration• Value OF time spent, not time TO value

• Solution to each has three dimensions: resistance/constraint/promotion


PREPARATIONHow does a CIO get in front of the innovation curve rather than be pushed from behind?

Have decisions and coverage been established?

ADD CHANGE DELETE

Controllability

?? TBD ??

Impact X TBD

Viability X

PROXIMITY READINESS DURATION

Promotion X ?? X

Constraint TBD ??

Resistance TBD

RISK OF INNOVATION’s NEWNESS

PRESSURE OF INNOVATION’S SPEED

Best case scenario is to have all issues addressed. The speed, complexity and volume of changes is a workload that calls for continual, not episodic, attention.

A key question will always be, “how much is good enough?”


CHANGESThe Information Technology world is evolving and expanding so rapidly that adopting and adapting innovations is not optional. The current business climate demands change at the speed of “Now”.

Business Innovation drives IT Evolution

• External IT is causing People and Environments to change• Change is causing business to innovate• Business innovation needs sustainable internal IT• Therefore, Change is causing “internal IT” to evolve

• Not redefining “business”; redefining “IT”• NOT about choice. ALL about goals, i.e. Purpose.

Nowadays, it is more and more likely that an IT user will try to use some kind of technology as an unusual channel in an unusual context. If it starts to work for the user, the combination increasingly gets repeated, and refined, then perhaps even expected, hence far more “usual”…

Meanwhile, engineering allows many other possible combinations of Users, Channels and Contexts to be tried as well, generating an endless stream of new “solution” variations ranging from the speculative to the proven breakthrough.

Information flows across these combinations. The business question is, for what purpose?


Evolution: IT diversity• Business picks a problem, and decides to “solve” it by doing something differently• Evolution: a difference that becomes an advantage that becomes a success factor that

becomes a norm

• But Business may abandon the difference at two points• Failure to remain an advantage, even if routinely available• Failure to become routinely available, even if it is an advantage

• Routinely Available does not equal “always the same”• Instead, whatever gets used must “always” be Relevant

• To Be Solved: IT evolves towards diversity, not towards uniformity.• Business norm = Entitlement to options (agility)• IT norm = Variety of provisions (economy of scope)

RESPONSIBILITYIn this dynamic climate, the CIO remains responsible for sustaining the value and strategic differentiation of internal information.

“Internal” Information – source and reach• Three perspectives for defining “Internal”: made/captive/owned

• Originated/Managed/Proprietary

• IT diversity can both challenge and support all three

• IT diversity means that information is on multiple pathways including many new alternatives of “how/when/why”• The origins and endpoints of the pathways are wide-ranging

• “Assuring” the business value of the information on the paths becomes complex• Reliable availability of information relevant to business objectives

• Assurance = “internalization”

Adapt: recruit and train

Requirements Matrix

Make Info(originated)

Capture Info(managed)

Own Info(proprietary)

Business Agility WhenWhy

WhenHow

WhyHow

IT Scope WhyHow

WhyWhen

HowWhen

Any given information path can challenge or support a policy (e.g. table below) that the business uses to define the value of the information. IT diversity means that some paths accomplish things that others don’t.

Internalizing the accomplishments means directing them away from being risky and towards being a timely sustainable advantage. Essentially, it is the same as training, emphasizing criteria such as below.


Adopt: constrain the risk of IT diversity

Set expectationsImagination (environment)Foresight (business)Prescription (solution)Visibility (evaluation)

Exercise leverageInfluencePromotionProofsSupport

Identify agreementsRelevanceWorkloadWindow of OpportunityExit strategy

Proactive Joint Impact Analysis: What impact will new paths have on the internalization of information? One impact can be that the business on the “front lines” makes all the decisions about the information on the additional new path, or doesn’t make enough decisions. Another impact is that IT’s logic for emphasizing earlier existing paths loses validity as users go elsewhere to a replacement. To minimize those risks to IT’s preparedness, potential impacts should be anticipated, accepted and directed – jointly – by the business user and corporate IT. Corporate IT needs a full assessment to occur…


ROLES & GOALSAre IT Leaders truly driving innovation or are they mainly reacting to it?

Getting in Front

• Do Business Leaders evolve IT? – definitely• Do IT Leaders innovate business? – maybe

• Enable business effectiveness• Manage change

• Leader vs. Architect // Driver vs. Designer = Adapt• Innovation appears here; turn it into a plan

• Executive vs. Manager // Decider vs. Implementer = Adopt• Shock occurs here; have predictive measures

The whole point of policy is to avoid shock!

Business requirements

determine value.

In the pursuit of desired impacts, Business usually proposes effects; IT usually proposes causes

INNOVATE

EVOLVE

BUSINESS IT

• Business leaders prescribe behaviors

• IT leaders assess options

• Business leaders request behaviors

• IT leaders provide options

• Business leaders prescribe options

• IT leaders assess behaviors

• Business leaders request options

• IT leaders prescribe behaviors

Catalog

Strategy Portfolio

Model

The RunTime Reference

New effects can become future business options.


Who does what: the Template

EXECUTIVE(decider)

MANAGER(implementer)

LEADER(driver)

OBJECTIVES METHODS

REQUIREMENTS PERFORMANCE

ARCHITECT(designer)

ADAPT

ADOPT

OPTIONS

PLANS

BEHAVIORS

MEASURES

Business and IT roles need to know the same thing at the same time.Both business and IT organizations have all of these roles within them.


Collaborative Effectiveness and Change• CIOs amidst innovation need to involve others in building approaches to

meet the goal of: • enabling business effectiveness • and managing change

• Decide information flows• Flows are then executive “requirements”

• Sustain information flows, not tools• Suppliers, APIs, and migrations are then “requirements”

• Obtain services to inherit tools with support• Strategy is the only reason to build.

Catalog

Strategy Portfolio

Model

The RunTime Reference


Causing and Promoting Innovation• Research field developments• Charge up the Business Model

• Information flows cause business, not just support business

• To interpret the model for implementation, use services • One model = many interpretations• Interpretations satisfy requirements

• Don’t “create” tools; “produce” services with tools • Service Oriented enterprise architecture • Architecture includes relationships, processes, and resources

IF I know this, THEN…IF I say this, THEN…

HOW can I KNOW this…HOW can I SAY this…



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change at the speed of now: the innovation curve

Leadership & Management

business value

diversity business

business norm

business question

business innovation

options change

innovation curve

business objectives