Keith Harrison-Broninski

Keith Harrison-Broninski begins his Column with this statement: “Finally, a notation is available to show collaborative human processes in a simple, sensible way. It’s about time.” I’m sure you’re curious, as I was, about what precisely he meant. Well, he reveals his meaning, but you’ll have to read inside to find out.

Keith Harrison-Broninski avers that “In today’s world, architectural technical debt is the new normal. There is no longer advantage in analyzing the poor design of current systems.” He suggests that organizations need to focus on how their systems serve stakeholders throughout society and make best use of emerging technologies. More details inside.

Keith zeroes in on his assessment of current attempts to rein in corporate exploitation of workers and tax evasion, both efforts nothing new. He relates how battles between state and private interests over workforce and taxation “have been bringing down societies since the Bronze Age.” Now that it’s the Digital Age will they finally focus on some serious issues we face such as inequality and the climate crisis? He raises some timely questions relating to these issues. Read and discuss with us.

In this month’s Column, Keith looks at past and present efforts to define and deliver outcomes that achieve more than just profits. He shares the knowledge he has accrued through his experience in working with organizations to improve their business environment beyond increasing profits.

Keith believes that we are at a critical point in technology development—”poised for either utopia or dystopia”, depending on choices made by IT thought leaders over the next few years. Process people, as key adopters of new technologies, have some influence over these choices. Read how you might wield more influence on future technologies.

Keith was surprised when the forced confinement of the pandemic caused him to rethink the idea that consultants, writers and speakers needed an initial face to face contact with clients.in order to establish a good working relationship. What changed his thinking?

Keith premises this Column on the belief that processes and data are mirror images of one another. Processes not only consume and generate data, but are themselves a form of data, and governance processes are necessary to manage data generally. In this Column, Keith takes a look at the processes that control how data is created, used, updated, and disposed of by an organization.

Most Enterprise Architecture methodologies include the modeling of Capabilities. However, Keith suggests, it is not always clear what a Capability is, how to use it, and how it relates to other model elements such as Business Processes and Value Streams. Keith offers a brief analysis of how to approach Capabilities, explaining their fundamental connection with Human Processes.

Corporate indicators include Key Performance Indicators, Business Performance Indicators, and other metrics that form a basis for tracking an organization’s operations. Since these indicators respond to operational challenges that change constantly, improvement of data is often about improvement of indicators, which, according to Keith, makes it a human process. Read more on what this might mean for process practitioners in his Column.