If your company is going to invest on ERP, it is always best for the company and its owners to know the ERP cost before doing so. The truth is the ERP system is beneficial that sometimes the owners forget to look at the cost. But the system, the integration itself and the changes to the manpower as well as the processes are going to be costly that it should be given a budget leeway especially during the testing period up to its live run. One should be able to set costs for the cost elements.

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Be Able to Do an ERP Cost Analysis Before Purchase

There are a ton of tools out there for testing. Every project has a multitude of options to chose from and configure, from open source to subscription services to paid software. When I was trying to chose which programs to get the QA department started with, I spent hours researching what was available, demoing products and trying to figure out what was the right match. It is an ongoing process, and I plan to keep adding to/adjusting our tools as I learn about more things.

My criteria were:

1. open source, if possible

2. Easy to use, time is always short, and I don’t want anyone to waste time on a difficult program

3. Able to integrate with tools we already use: IM, email etc, to make it as seemless as possible

4. Usable/viewable by the whole team – to keep with agile transparency practices.

So far, I have found some really great programs, I will go through each one in more detail in the coming days, but here is the list of what I’m currently using.

1. Testlink – love this program! It is an open source test tracking and test management tool.

2.  Lighthouse- a very simple ticketing system with a good API

3. Litmus – a subscription based browser compatibility program

4. Selenium – for our front end web testing

…Stay tuned for full reviews!

McDonald's workflow: Every second counts

McDonald’s and Workflow

Every second counts. Each delay, bottleneck and unnecessary step reduces output and highlights the need for efficient workflow processes. McDonald’s has embraced the importance of managing processes, by ensuring that every second is accounted for in the making of each product.

Service time is critical to McDonald’s success, as McDonald’s tries to increase customer satisfaction within the competitive fastfood industry. The plan to get food to customers quicker, and keep increasing the market share that McDonald’s won in the recession, means that each second really does matter.

As part of McDonald’s ever-increasing process development, the company is testing a self-serve kiosk in Europe, which may prove popular with diners seeking to customize meals and limit their time in queues. The downside may be the time needed to read the screens of choices.  McDonald’s Director of operations and POS technology, Laurie Gilbert, said that the system is easy to learn and may cut as much as 10 seconds off the current workflow.  Approximately 5,000 restaurants out of the company’s 32,000 locations are trialling the new software.

McDonald’s currently aims to serve most customers within 90 seconds of taking their order. In order to speed up times at drive-through windows, staff at the McDonald’s Innovation Centre spent years incorporating an automated soda fountain that fills cups as soon as an order is placed into the workflow. When this same crew discovered that hot drinks needed more milk, they added refrigerated storage below the McCafe coffee makers to speed up efficiency. These two improved services have led to the processing of as many as five extra cars per hour in the drive-through queue.

The Innovation Centre has also redesigned an assembly area with three sides for staff to pack food into bags, while a new preparation table that holds 50 percent more burgers and chicken breasts is shaping up to be more energy efficient. The new preparation table also lifts the bread steamer to hip level so that workers avoid bending over for every order.
Staff at the Innovation centre gather orders, productivity and performance data to ensure that tests mirror the real world as closely as possible, plus they track the food to see where bottlenecks are most likely to occur. Once these bottlenecks have been identified, issues are fixed and efficient and proven workflow procedures are put in place.

McDonald’s realises the key to creating customer satisfaction within their market niche: Fast service and fast food. Without detailed workflow processes, McDonald’s is unlikely to be able to maintain their position within the fastfood industry.

An interesting article recently came out on enterprise data quality (see The Sad State of Data Quality in Information Age) from David Waddington of InformationDifference. Supporting data were collected from 193 companies, 39% having revenue >$1Bn. Sad to read:

• 32% of them consider their data quality from Poor to Disastrous …!
• 63% never calculated the costs associated to poor data
• 42% do not measure data quality

How could a company take informed and professional decisions impacting their operations based on poor quality data? Do all companies have a data governance board instituting rules and monitoring data quality (otherwise why build sophisticated BI systems if supporting data are not trustworthy)? What about Metrics? Companies falling in percentages above do add major risks to their decision-making process.

Quality of information starts at Metadata definition, capturing points and depends on validation tables. Submitting most of your key operational data elements to strict quality filters should improve scores of your quality metrics. To get back in control, why not institute by functions, MD and transactional data quality dashboards integrated within your monthly/quarterly management reviews?

Are all above comments linked to ‘Lean’? Yes, one of the primary goals of Lean is ‘Perfection’. Is Lean a new fad? not fully convinced either as Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) wrote: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but habit.”

Some advanced solutions are now available on the market (you might take 15′ and listen to a Webcast from Informatica 9 on how to get a better grip on data quality). For a more scholar-oriented study, see Uncertainty management in information systems: from needs to solutions by Amihai Motro, Philippe Smets (1997)

During my time at EFI (Electronics for Imaging, Inc.) we heard alot about the Theory of Constraints as one of our members was a colleague of Eli Goldratt, author of The Goal. Our charge at EFI was to help companies in the printing and publishing industries manage workflows and reduce constraints as well as increase capacities in their processes to engender greater efficiencies and protect profit margins.

Figuring out where the bottlenecks are is key to being able to manage the constraints, and do some load balancing of your resources. Finding the right balance of throughput for your resources is key to being able to sleep nights! Do you need to factor in some temporary help or overtime, upgrade or add equipment, reduce process redundancies or even rethink your production model? Do you need to implement a workflow system with dashboard reporting so you have a view of real-time “where we are”?

Defining processes to manage risk factors and contingencies is critical as well, all those “what if” scenarios that probably won’t happen (you hope), but that eventually will happen just because that’s how the odds play out. So what are your contingencies? If you lost a major client, or a tornado blew out a chunk of your city (hey, I live in Tulsa, it happens!), or you lost a team of key executives in an airline accident? Do you have a plan, or would it all come to a screeching halt?

At any rate, this short little video is worth a thousand words…

Today I felt like a secret agent. Almost. Having FedEx drive up with an envelope then after opening it there is a plain yellow envelope inside and inside that was a DVD. If I didn’t know what was on that DVD it would have definitely been secret agent. The fantastic thing on this DVD is the Adobe CS4 Master Collection! *gasp* It is still slightly unexpected. I don’t know why I’m just really flattered and excited at the same time. So many programs to do so many things.

I don’t know many of the changes between say, Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS4 but I have a photographer friend who showed me some new magic available in the CS4 versions Camera Raw that is really exciting. I can’t wait to delve in and see what slight new things are well, new!

Big thanks to my Uncle D who got it for me in the first place and went through the hassle of snail mail.

Recently, I have read some conflicting reviews on using IEEE standards for documentation and test plans. I’ve heard people say it is a crutch, and claim that if you need the document to do your job, then using it is actually harming you. This makes sense in a lot of ways.

If you approach the template like you would approach a worksheet in school: fill the blanks in with word for word answers from the book and don’t give it much thought, of course it is a crutch. It gives you a false sense that you know things and are learning, when really, you are just being prompted.  I’d hardly call that the template’s fault though. Likely, a tester who put so little thought into their test plans would have trouble adapting with or without a template. Does this mean they are not viable tools for test documentation or requirements specification?

The way I see it, IEEE templates are just that: templates. Of course no one template is going to work for every company or even every project.  The template must simply guide a person to create a living, meaningful document for your project. If used in that way, it is not a crutch but a standard to hold yourself to. You just need to remember to apply some rational thought to it instead of using it blindly.

I have found IEEE 829 (test plan) and 830 (requirements document) to be very useful on my project. They have been a good starting point for building documentation and test plans as well as providing a cohesive feel and expected deliverables for the team. I find them very flexible and easy to adapt to every project we’ve tried so far.

Some great detail on IEEE 829 can be found here - I’ve included the basic outline below.

1. Test Plan Identifier
2. References
3. Introduction
4. Test Items
5. Software Risk Issues
6. Features to be Tested
7. Features not to be Tested
8. Approach
9. Item Pass/Fail Criteria
10. Suspension Criteria and Resumption Requirements
11. Test Deliverables
12. Remaining Test Tasks
13. Environmental Needs
14. Staffing and Training Needs
15. Responsibilities
16. Schedule
17. Planning Risks and Contingencies
18. Approvals
19. Glossary

A nice overview of IEEE 830 for Requirements documents can be found here, the format is below:

1. Introduction
1.1 Purpose
1.2 Document conventions
1.3 Intended audience
1.4 Additional information
1.5 Contact information/SRS team members
1.6 References

2. Overall Description
2.1 Product perspective
2.2 Product functions
2.3 User classes and characteristics
2.4 Operating environment
2.5 User environment
2.6 Design/implementation constraints
2.7 Assumptions and dependencies

3. External Interface Requirements
3.1 User interfaces
3.2 Hardware interfaces
3.3 Software interfaces
3.4 Communication protocols and interfaces

4. System Features
4.1 System feature A
4.1.1 Description and priority
4.1.2 Action/result
4.1.3 Functional requirements
4.2 System feature B

5. Other Nonfunctional Requirements
5.1 Performance requirements
5.2 Safety requirements
5.3 Security requirements
5.4 Software quality attributes
5.5 Project documentation
5.6 User documentation

6. Other Requirements
Appendix A: Terminology/Glossary/Definitions list
Appendix B: To be determined

Clickety-click clickety-click clickety-click… “Honey!” Uh-oh, bet this won’t be sweet. “Yes, dear?” “It’s minus one and Kahlua won’t come in!” Doesn’t she have a fur coat? Sigh…

Killer Kahlua

Minus one Fahrenheit, forty mile per hour winds, now I know why they call it God’s country, He’s the only one who could survive this! Oh well, I still love Colorado even through the blizzards, and an occasional snow day off from work definitely supports my writing. Now, having to get the dog in? Well, the jury is out on that one.

We are hot in the middle of the Holiday season, and the New Year is just around the corner. Why not make a resolution that you will thank yourself for until you die. I mean an actual resolution, not the usual weight loss, quit smoking, eat better type, but a resolution to get your writing off the ground and complete a project within 2010.

I realize it may sound like wishful thinking, but if you have created your task list using Excel from last time and placed all your Appointments to Write within it, then you have a real shot at finally completing that project you have thought about for years. Make it a resolution you plan to keep, and I’ll help you achieve your dreams.

No, I don’t mean your dream of winning American Idol, but your dream of being a novelist. After all, why should an honest housewife be the only one to get a movie contract about Vampires? Your ideas are just as good, but they won’t help you living inside your head. Let’s get them out and allow them to breath and be experienced by others. Are you with me? Good, let’s proceed.

Okay, you have your Excel spreadsheet open, and you are waiting to complete your first Appointment to Write. Congratulations, you have come a long way to completing your project. The spreadsheet is designed to both motivate, track history, and instruct your writing progress. The fields within the spreadsheet are designed to assist you.

Let’s go through each field individually and discuss how they change, if they change, during your progress. I have listed all the fields below for a quick reference, then we will address each one in detail after that:

• Book
• Area
• Task
• Status
• Target
• Comments

I realize the Book field is really wishful thinking if you are just starting your writing career, but it serves more than a way to differentiate your writing projects. For newbies, this field is your ultimate goal, the Holy Grail, the whole enchilada. Every time you sit down to write, look at the book field and think about it being completed and in your hands. If people can lose two hundred pounds on a reality show, you can write a three hundred page novel.

Area is your way to differentiate your writing tasks. Although you would think it is only about writing, you would be wrong. There is more to publishing a novel, but getting it written is the logical first step. Here are my suggestions for values to use in this field:

• Writing – duh.
• Editing – really duh.
• Publishing – a lot here, too.
• Research – yeah, I got to do some of that, too.
• Administrative – you’d be surprised how much.

Later on, I’ll explain more about marketing and sales, so don’t think this is all you’ll have to do. However, this is a good start for the beginning.

Not much to say about Task, you simply describe a goal that must be accomplished and is difficult to break down into smaller components. Eventually, you’ll come up with standardized phrases that describe tasks you do over and over again, but for now, don’t sweat it, just put something in there and get ‘er done!

Status is one of those that will change as you progress. At first, most of your tasks will be done sequentially, so this field doesn’t carry its weight during that time. Later on, it is important as you begin multi-tasking your writing. Hey, get a blog and you’ll know what I am talking about. I have two blogs and they keep me busy while I still write the novels. Yeah, I am a little crazy, but the writing keeps me sane.

All right, back to Status. There are a few values you should use in this field as follows:

• Not Started – sadly, they all start out that way.
• Inprogress – early on, there is usually only one of these.
• Done – oh, what a feeling!

Start with these three and later you can add more. However, make sure they are in an alphabetic order so sorting on that field provides a useful view. More on that in the next blog, but notice that listing my tasks by this field in alphabetic order has the Done tasks at the top, to be scrolled out of view, followed by the Inprogress tasks, and lastly, the Not Started tasks.

This means that as I complete tasks, they scroll up, and what remains is viewable from top to bottom. This is useful as it gives you a way to check your remaining list without wading through the completed tasks. Now, as you start a task, please change the Status to Inprogress. Once you complete it, change the Status to Done. All tasks are obviously entered with a Status of Not Started at the outset.

Target is just as important as the Status field, maybe even more so. This is the due date, and we also sort on this field so that the most recent dates are at the top. As dates go past without completion, you must readjust the remaining tasks to take into account this slip in your schedule. I know it sounds hard and time consuming, but the reality is, you won’t get the dates quite right untill you have done this a few times.

Be patient, complete this administrative task diligently, and you will quickly get the feel for good dates based on your past experience. In the future, I will instruct you how to use formulas to update all the later dates based on a slip in an earlier date. But for now, simply change them by hand.

All right, this brings us to Comments. This field is useful for storing all sorts of information about your task. Web sites, email addresses, phone numbers, references, and excuses can all be listed within this field. I use it a lot for web resources for particular tasks. When you get into marketing your work, this will be critical. For the writing, not much is needed there unless you want to use it for outlining each chapter’s general storyline. Just a thought, I don’t actually do that.

So your task spreadsheet should be a dynamic document that you look at every time you sit down to write, update every time there are changes, and use to help track and motivate your progress. I start new ones at the beginning of every year, and it is so satisfying to scroll through the completed tasks to see what I have accomplished in that previous year.

But nothing is more exciting than completing the entire project. I am just about finished writing my fourth novel in my Onyalum Series and can’t wait to get it published next year. Still much to do, but the end is in sight and that really motivates me!

So, I’ll leave you this year with a heartfelt Happy Holidays, but with a request that you finally make that resolution to write your novel. Use the spreadsheet and your Appointment to Write to help you achieve this dream you have had for so long. Anyone can dream it, but only you can make it happen!

“Okay, dear, I’ll see if I can find her!”

All right, I need a parka, gloves, and a hat. Be very, very quiet. I’m hunting dog! Sigh …

Being new to the Agile world, I am trying to figure out exactly where testing should fit in this model.

Waterfall testing is clear – you test the final product at the end of the development cycle, report bugs, test bug fixes and sign off on testing.  Agile approaches things a little differently. Documents aren’t always finished before the project starts, the product isn’t finished before you start testing, and the very things you are testing can change quickly. Agile Development is in vogue – but where does good testing fit in that schedule?

I am learning that effective agile testing has the same principal as waterfall: testing quickly and early. The difference is in how you arrange your test schedule around development sprints, instead of grouped together at the end. Adjust your test plan into mini-test plans based on milestones. Treat each milestone as a whole project that needs to be tested. At the end, you can run through all the test cases again to test the complete functionality, but each step along the way has been tested as completely as if it were a stand alone product.

Get involved in the process at the kick off meeting, talk to the developers, pop into daily stand ups when you have time, ask questions and listen to how they talk about what they are working on. Does it seem like certain parts of functionality are giving them a hard time? Take note. If you listen to your team, they will tell you the problem areas, the parts that were rushed, the developers who weren’t talking very much while they were working. It gives you some red flags to look at when designing your test plans.

Agile Development promises more transparency in the development process – we can include QA in that. Open up test plans and test cases for review. Ask developers to sign off your coverage, give them a chance to make suggestions. It gives you a chance to learn from them, but it also makes them aware of how you test and what you look for. Quality becomes a group goal.

This is a great video from youtube on the differences between agile and waterfall development, which is a great overview. I initially found the video on this blog, which also has lots of info on Agile Testing.

I can’t resist this post!  I was talking to @dominiccampbell about using Twitter in various occupations.  My mind leapfrogged to this idea.

Extreme change management

1. Take away all the computers
2. See which processes people think are sufficiently important to do by hand.
3. Allow computers to do those and let people know that computers can be removed at arbitrary times.

Then I thought, are computers there for important processes or are they there to allow us to do what we couldn’t do before?

Let’s look at my essential processes.

• Wouldn’t it be cool if I could check with the Coop whether they’ve actually got any Wheatgerm bread before I walk to the shop?
• Wouldn’t it be cool if I could ask any one walking back past my house to bring me a loaf?’
• Wouldn’t it be cool if I had the casual social conversations that I have Coop staff online and in places other than the Coop.

What would I lose if the computers were turned off?

• Adverts from Tescos ~ only an Express here and they rarely have what I need ~ delete without reading.
• Adverts from Tescos – no really, I am not going to ask a truck to drive 20 miles to deliver what I can buy down the road in a friendly Coop.  What they don’t have will wait.
• And probably a whole lot of junk mail from people who don’t know who I am and nor do they want to know. They just vaguely hope that I am stupid enough to buy from them.

If we started again, we would computerize vastly different things.

And I think we might be better for it.

I love to do storyboards. This artefact really enables you to communicate the essence of what an application, process, or policy will have on the business by just telling a story with archetypal users (aka personas) as the protagonists. But once you’ve done this is that all there is? What else can you do, or should you do, with your storyboards.

I turn my storyboards into epic requirements on an A3 page and display the logic of the storyboard along with:

• The feature as detailed on the storycard
• The user-experience (UX) to show the basic flow of choices and actions
• The business process at a high-level — just enough for someone to understand what the business rules are
• The system components that support the UX and and business process
• The personas used, their requirements, and the business requirements

What I end up with is a discrete piece of the solution described in just enough terms so that everyone has a sense of how all the pieces of that solution go together. Some people like to call this approach ’skinny documentation’. I like to call it ‘zen documentation’ — simple, elegant, minimalist yet comprehensive and uncomplicated.

The template is available under a Creative Commons Licence from one of our other posts on ‘requirements on a page‘.

M

The Adobe Developer Connection web site has some good video episodes detailing how the workflow tools in Creative Suite 4 (CS4) can used to generate apps and content for different platforms. This episode shows how mobile workflows can be created. A lot of other good stuff on this ADC site if you look around.

Comprehensive recent (June 2009)  article from Streamingmedia.com on the area of Cloud Encoding. As the number of platforms and channels continues to diversify, it surveys the major players in the field, from veteran stalwarts such as Encoding.com to relative newcomers such as Hey!Watch, mPoint, On2FlixCloud and HD Cloud. It observes that a long-standing issue with providing these services remains the upload time of the raw video and audio files.

Background Processes allow access to the database and supports the instance.  Below is a list of the main processes in Oracle 11g.

The Database Writer Process (dbw0) (Previously dbwr)
Writes information contained within the database buffer to disk. The buffer is a segment of memory. Similar to the cash register buffer file.

The Log Writer Process (lgw0) (Previously Lgwr)
Manages information going to the online redo logs. There is a log buffer staging area where this information is staged until ready to transfer to disk by this process.

The Checkpoint Process (ckpt)
Update information within the database during checkpoint activity. Writes info from memory to specific locations. Restores system to a specific point and is similar to XP system restore point. The checkpoint activity may trigger the lgw0 and dbw0 processes.

The System Monitor Process (smon) – Consistency Manager
Continually enforces and re-establishes consistency within the database.

The Process Monitor (pmon)
Cleans up resources following aborted sessions within the database.

The Job Queue Coordination Process (cjq0)
Similar to printer queuing system. Users can submit jobs and this process handles the coordination of these jobs.

The archiever Process (arc0)
Manages the copying of log file between each other. There must be at least two log files for this process to occur.

Background Processes support access to the Oracle database.  Below is a list of important files and processes:

The Control File
This is a binary file. It contains the names, locations and sizes of the database files. There can be three or more control files. Each time the database is started the information within the control file is read, and the files mentioned within are opened.

The Online Redo Logs
Keep a log of transactions as they occur within the database. Must be a at least two logs to support the instance

The System Tablespace
Database files are called tablespace this is the home of a table. The System Tablespace contains Oracle’s data dictionary. This area is continually accessed as records within the database are created. It contains information about the structure and permissions of the data stored. For example. Data types, field sizes, ownership, viewing and manipulation rights.

The Sysaux Tablespace (cousin of System Tablespace)
Stores tools and options and object that support the database including the Oracle Enterprise (OEM) Grid Control Repository.

Default Temporary Tablespace
Used for query processing e.g. sorting data should the primary memory allocated for SQL processing run out.

Undo Tablespace
Maintains a copy of any unchanged data in the Undo Tablespace so that they user can revert back to the original data. Copy kept until new data committed.

The Server Parameter File (spfile)
The startup parameters are defined within this file. This file is read when the instance starts and its contents determines the various memory structures.

The database is ready to use after the following processes occur:

• Startup
• Opened
• Started – Database ready for use

Instance
Processes running in computers memory
Provide access to database files

Background Processes
Supports access to the database

Well, as it turns out, a lot.

I had my first French macaron during my connecting flight in Paris a couple of months ago – it had me at first bite. I still remember when my teeth first met the crusty surface.  Then they descended into the chewy core, which was followed by just the right amount of fillings to top off the ultimate delectable experience. I thought the whole world must have been added to each macaron, only to learn later on that the ingredients are incredibly simple. After about the 5th one, I started contemplating whether or not my husband and I should continue on to Spain, which was our final destination, or stay in Paris and eat our way out of every single patisserie that carried this tongue altering narcotics.

Once we returned to California, I was determined to find these Parisian treats. Soon enough, I started eating my way out of the local bakeries – from Pualette to Miette to XP Patisserie and even Starbucks – yes, THE CHAIN – who knew!

As if that wasn’t enough, I decided that I would learn to make my own macarons. So I’m taking a 3-hour class in LA late December. I figured that if each macron costs $1.65, and a class costs $50, taking the class was no brainer. So this is now my little personal challenge. I consider myself a good cook, but I don’t bake.

So what do bakers and product managers have in common? In general terms:

Creativity: In baking, it’s about taste, presentation, tools and techniques. In product management, it’s about design, processes and resources. Yes, you CAN be creative in how you use your resources to get things done!

Patience: In baking, every step has to be meticulously done – the ingredients, the step by step preparation, and the wait . . . before you can enjoy the fruit of your labor. Product Managers generally lack patience. That might just be the nature of A-type personalities. But patience can result in better timing (i.e., go to market), better outcome (due diligence in planning, execution and QA) and increased productivity.

Persistence and the desire to achieve perfection: When I scoured the internet for a macron recipe and for people’s experience in making macrons, the common thread seemed to be the multiple attempts. One person went through 7 batches before he was happy with the outcome. PMs persistency comes from selling ideas they truly believe in to both the internal and external stakeholders. Persistence is also about finding an optimal solution to a problem.

Pride: In baking, it’s about repeated business via word of mouth. It’s about who wins the bake off contest, and if you have kids, it’s about who’s mom makes kick butt cupcakes. In product management, it’s the satisfaction of seeing your product move off the shelf and knowing that you’ve put your heart, soul, sweat into creating something that never existed before. It’s about making a difference in someone else’s life because of your product(s), or better yet, it’s about making a better world.

Passion: Bakers exists because they are passionate about food. If you don’t believe me, just look at their size (I’m going to get into so much trouble for this). As a marketer, I’m guilty of accumulating a lot of personal “stuff” I might not need. My husband accuses me of it, and I tell him that the product was so brilliantly marketed that I just had to buy it. Truly the bottom line is that if you are not passionate about the product that you manage, you are less likely to succeed.

So will baking make me a better product manager? Maybe . . . but I’m sure going to find out!

Jenny Feng

highlights, blue eyes Other: loves to play guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, and flute Name: Alex Age:17 Hobbies: singing, texting, hanging with friends Looks- Black hair with brown highlights and brown eyes Other: loves to play guitar Name: Becca Age: 20 Hobbies: singing, dancing, texing Looks: brown hair brown eyes Other: Loves to play guitar and basketball Name: Sophie Age: 5 Hobbies: playing Looks: -think Noah Cyrus- Other: Im not really sure at the moment And I think you all know Nick …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDrRn9o1HHo&hl=en

Related : tw-finance tw-france tw-cuba http://imacgame.blogspot.com/

Wanted today to highlight the complexity a typical CIO faces in his everyday work (by far, not all dimensions were actually listed …)

Above challenges become even more daunting when relying on simple geometry concepts. Adding a node (or a new technology component) has often a snowball effect when attempting to integrate it within existing components

Think of A, B, C or D as for example in the SAP world, of HW landscape, SAP modules, SAP accesses and SAP tools. In the Green scenario, we have 4 components but 6 “dual combinations” to manage when the Red scenario becomes much more challenging with 6 components but a total of 24 combinations to be managed and optimized to lead to maximum business benefits.

Key issue becomes then: if your company is conceptually close to the third Red scenario, will you continue to run the risk of having one or several dual combinations impacting at some point in time your long quest for trouble-free IS/IT operations?

or will you get ready to proceed with ‘Lean’ IS/IT initiatives where simplification brings rapid cost savings and leaner operations conducive to greater overall corporate agility?

You have to feel, ‘I have got to change’. Most of us don’t think of problem-solving as it is not part of work. We tend to be procedure-oriented, but processes are obsolete and old – Sam Pitroda