Situational Applications:

Cost Effective Solutions

to

Immediate Business Problems

Jonathan Sapir

Chicago ∙ Ukraine ∙ Vietnam

Frog

It’s hard to get perspective on a day-to-day basis.

We live in revolutionary times

Greenspan

What has changed

Technology - cloud

“In a revolutionary era

of surprise and

innovation, you need

to think and act like a

revolutionary.

(People who don’t act

that way have a

particular name:

victims).”

– Joshua Cooper Ramo, The

Age of the Unthinkable

Business IT

Experimentation Planning

Uncertainty Predictability

Change Stability

Responsiveness Justification

Well-oiled machine, shift gears, jump-start, re-engineer – system analysts & architects

The real world – push a button …

maximize rail efficiency rather

The organization plans and passengers must adjust their plans accordingly

When events cannot be easily anticipated …

A dynamic business environment

A dynamic business environment is more closely reflected in the process that taxi cab

companies use to respond to demand.

Only a rough strategy, responding to demand as required.

Embrace uncertainty, dynamic demand, and some degree of chaos - and thrive on it.

Much more reliance on the flexibility, adaptability, and creativity of individual agents to make

decisions on the spot - consistent with passengers needs as the context continually changes.

Organization must adjust in real time to the passenger whose plans are unknown

most of the time.

IT owns the sole means of production and delivery

Traditional vs. Situational

“Most software built for large

numbers of users or designed to

last indefinitely fails at both

goals.“

Clay Shirky

A form-fit solution is cheaper and faster to build, and

more likely to be adopted.

“Situated software“ is designed for use by a specific

group, rather than for a generic set of users.

Clay Shirky

Good enough applications built to

quickly respond to a

particular situation, problem, or challenge.

Platform

Methodology

Mindset

Support

Platform

Software infrastructurePlatform

The power of a platform cannot be underestimated

Methodology

Ownership

Non-functional requirements

Instant Feedback

Location independent

Hidden Benefits

Problem solving

Cloud services

Latest functionality

User modification

More Hidden Benefits

Even More Hidden Benefits

Time-to-Market

Functional requirements

Testing

Funding

Outsource

Re-think ROI

Mindset

This requires new thinking.

In-sync, well-oiled machine, shift gears, jump-start, re-engineer – system analysts and architects

Complex Adaptive System

Semi-independent agents

acting in accordance with simple rules

towards a common goal.

The Edge of Chaos

“The edge of chaos is a place where there is enough

innovation to keep a living system vibrant, and enough

stability to keep it from collapsing into anarchy.”

- Joseph Campbell in “On the Edge of Chaos: Navigating through Global Change”

“The big payoff of the living systems point

of view is that what is remote and

unnatural within the traditional frame of

reference becomes sensible and accessible

within the complexity mindset.”

- Richard Pascale, Mark Tillemann, Linda Gioja, Surfing the Edge of Chaos

Good enough

Doesn’t have to be right. Just has to work.

Self-Organization

Incrementalism

Low startup costs, not team to lose.

Constant change

Made to fit

Don’t kill worthwhile projects by making them “broadly accessible”.

Small things/Big impact

Large effects require enormous coordinated effort vs.

Large effects come from small starts and positive feedback.

Simple Rules

Change is the

organizing force, not a

problematic intrusion.

Support

SECData feeds

Programming

Sit App Analysts

Sit App Center

Platform

Methodology

Mindset

Support

Deliver the right information, to the

right people, at the right time

Transformational

“Cloud Computing makes it possible for

companies to change their business models and

collaborate in powerful new ways with their

customers, suppliers and trading partners – stuff

that simply could not be done before.”

– Peter Fingar, Dot.Cloud: The 21st Century Business Platform

Large Amounts of Storage

Heavy Resources Periodically

Deliver on the right device

Billing and Payment

Social Applications

Widgets

Widgets Examples

Widgets with Marketing

Spreadsheet Abuse

Expert Abuse

Email Abuse

Swivel Chair Abuse

Raving Fans

Automatically send out a letters - how things are working out; thank you notes;

birthday videos.

Where

When

Maintenance

Schedule

Leverage cloud services

Mashups

Unbundling

Cut work into discrete tasks. Give to independent contractors. Re-aggregate the results.

Incentive

Value-added services

Self-service

Streamline touchpoints

Innovation facilitationToo many barriers, IT no bandwidth

Tiresome and repetitive tasks

e.g. a way to monitor their spending, reminders

Status, knowledge, data entry

www.SilverTreeSystems.com

Make leading-edge technology available to everyone – at a very low cost

www.SilverTreeSystems.com

Find new ways to perform day-to-day duties and achieve strategic objectives.

Frog

Think like a revolutionary! Don’t get cooked.

Build Information Systemsat the

Edge of ChaoS

www.PowerInTheCloud.com

“In the face of threat, or when

galvanized by a compelling

opportunity, living things

move to toward the edge of

chaos. This condition evokes

higher levels of mutation and

experimentation, and fresh

new solutions are likely to be

found.”

- Richard Pascale, Mark Tillemann, Linda Gioja, Surfing the Edge of Chaos

“The health, competitive power, and even survival of

an enterprise largely depends on its ability to

understand and harness the power of knowledge

workers who are enabled to take responsibility for

providing automatic solutions to meet many of their

business needs.”

– SOA meets situational applications: Examples and lessons learned,

IBM System Journal, July 2008

Differences include:

www.SilverTreeSystems.com

“To see the world … as a ceaselessly

complex and adaptive system requires

a revolution. It involves changing the

role we imagine for ourselves, from

architects of a system we can control

and manage to gardeners in a living,

shifting ecosystem.”

– Joshua Cooper Ramo, The Age of the Unthinkable

“The attitude that we’re shifting into is viewing the world as chaotic. You’re never going to understand it. You’re never going to– Danny Hillis, founder of Applied Minds, quoted in What’s Next? Exploring the New Terrain for Business.

“The attitude that we’re shifting into is viewing the world

as chaotic.

You’re never going to understand it. You’re never going to

control it.

Instead, you have to be responsive.

You have to make sure that when an opportunity arises

you can take advantage of it.”

– Danny Hillis, founder of Applied Minds, quoted in What’s Next? Exploring

the New Terrain for Business.

and more like this.

SAAsData feeds

$2,000

Evolving

No more project and forget / well-defined, agreed upon schedule. Focus on “good-enough” to address an immediate need.

Situational

LOB executives, corporate IT vs individual users, self-organizing small team. Large generic group vs a known individual or a small team.

Missed/incorrect

requirements

Hard to change

Must get better

requirements

Underprescribe

Messiness

Highly adaptable systems may look sloppy. Completeness is not an unqualified virtue.

Missed/incorrect requirements

Hard to change

Must get better requirements

Underprescribe

More “accurate” and “precise”

The organization plans and passengers must adjust their plans accordingly