Enterprise Architecture: From Incite comes Insight...: Revisiting 2006 Goals

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Revisiting 2006 Goals

Scott Mark in his blog outlined his 2006 Goals which are very close to my own. I guess great minds think alike...

I am not the only architect in corporate America that blogs. The world is priveleged that Scott also contributes his thoughts to the blogosphere on a frequent basis. Software vendors are well-served by adding him to their blogroll. There is probably something to be said if you are a software vendor and don't have a single customer on your blogroll. Anyway, this is a topic for another day. Like Scott, 2005 was a fantastic year for me professionally and personally and if God wills, this trend will continue. The following are some random thoughts and goals I have for 2006...

Architecture goals

Relentless use of Agile methods - I have been an Agile zealot since its inception having operated with the same mental model but disconnected from others. The ability to delivering early and continuous value in the form of working software is vital to the success of enterprise architecture. Me and my peers will be savage in getting better at this.

Use of non-hype Web 2.0 practices in the enterprise - Web 2.0 hype is still on the rise, so this will be a challenge. I have previously blogged that tagging is a key Web 2.0 concept that will be of use in enterprises. Folksonomy will become more important as folks in the ECM space will come to realize that taxonomy will never work in the long run. I also believe that increasing use of self-selected transparency will transform many existing one-way sites within enterprises.

Developing people, not just IT solutions - there are key Agile principles around valuing the people in your organization. We did a better job improving talents and skills on our team last year than ever before, and will continue that practice. Investing in high-quality individuals pays the greatest dividend of any possible IT spend. The only hard part is in convincing others of this truth

Other professional goals

Continue blogging - I have made some great connections through this blog, and it has been a great way to hone thinking on various topics. I have been pretty good in sharing my thoughts at least on a daily basis and sometimes more. I will attempt to do a better job in providing my reactions to questions left as comments.

Presenting at multiple conferences - Last year I had the opportunity to serve on a panel at an academic-oriented conference. This year I hope to give a little more of my time to students interested in the IT profession and seek speaking gigs that realize this vision.

Propose a lecture or training program to the University of West Indies - I will be proposing various topics that I could deliver to the Computer Science department as guest lectures or short training possibly in 2006 or 2007. I would do this on my own time and probably my own dime, as a means of giving back. I figured that it is in the best interest of all Americans to eschew outsourcing to India where money sent overseas doesn't get returned back to our own economy but does occur in both Trinidad and Costa Rica that we can support them in their ability to become outsourcing destinations of the future which of course starts with a good education system.

Construction - In remodeling my basement to incorporate modern home automation, home theater and my data center, I learned an aweful lot about construction techniques and want to figure out how to make money off what I have learned.

Personal goals (that I'm willing to share!)

Organize my charitable giving - our family has always supported various charities, but have not stuck to any one in particular consistently. One act is helps better align with this goal is listing some of the charities that I believe are worthy of your money in the left column of this blog. Hopefully you will consider making a sizable donation to them. This year we will be deciding on what goals and values to support, and what international areas to support and be more direct with support. I will continue to donate time, as this is often more valuable than money.

Weightlifting - been on a quest to achieve the same strength I had when I was a school boy. For the most part, I have already achieved this goal in every excercise except the bench press. During my peak, I did a three-rep max of 400 pounds. I cannot even seem to get close to this. Have to figure out what I am doing wrong.

Do a better job making sure my kids grow up multilingual - my family tree is pretty diverse and in order to show respect to it, I need to make sure that my two sons not only speak English but will also become conversational in Hindi and Arabic. They already for their age know some Spanish, primarily what they see on TV but the other languages are more of a struggle since they don't get the opportunity to be exposed to them on a daily basis.