[One of a series of posts posing questions that enterprise architecture can answer]

When we’re busy with our own little part of the world, it is sometimes difficult to notice how our colleagues in other parts of the business are getting on (or not), and easy to immerse ourselves in our own tasks and issues. It’s understandable, but makes it difficult to collaborate when we DO meet together because no-one truly comprehends what other parts of the business are doing, and communication is often lost in translation between the different “dialects” we speak in our own specialisations. Where do we get the business equivalent of the Rosetta Stone, or a Babel fish?

Since the business capability model describes in reasonable detail what every part of the business does it is a useful tool for directing conversations to views of the business which are unambiguous, understandable and consistent with the business intent, or DNA. When supplemented by various heatmap analyses (e.g. competitive differentiators, where investments are made, skill requirements etc.) the capability model can focus people’s attention on the important things, and give them a vocabulary that underpins shared understanding. The model itself usually fits on a single page, so it literally becomes the “same page” for all to be reading from. 

 

If you’d like to talk some more, contact us.

 

Other questions in the series:

Change: how do we handle change, whether we’re making it ourselves or it’s being imposed on us by the business environment?

Business design: how can we improve our business design – how we structure, how we compete, how we manage.

Investing: how can we ensure that we invest to our best business advantage?

How do we know we’re getting value from our IT investment?