Charles Betz « EMA Blog Community

From “plan / build / run” to “demand / supply / execute”

posted by | June 4, 2012 | 0 Comments

Data_Information_HIGH-SPEED_300x190

I want to outline briefly some ideas I’ve had recently about our fundamental models for understanding IT management. In 1968, Melvin Conway proposed an insightful law, basically stating that our systems are copies of our communication structure (how we interact as human beings). And while this law is often applied in discussions of computer program structure,...

Posted in Charles Betz, IT Management, Service Management Tags: COBIT, DevOps, Manufacturing execution system, Melvin Conway, PBR, Professional Bull Riders, Supply & Demand

Three books for the next ten years

posted by | May 17, 2012 | 0 Comments

Books_300x190

I try to keep up on my reading. It’s important. In the past year or so, I’ve come across three books that I think complement each other nicely, and taken together outline a program for improving IT management. The books are: How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business, by Douglas Hubbard...

Posted in Charles Betz, IT Management, Service Management Tags: Don Reinertsen, Information technology, Mark Burgess, New product development

Semantics matter: the troubled world of IT terminology

posted by | May 11, 2012 | 0 Comments

2planes_300x190

On March 27, 1977, two Boeing 747 passenger aircraft collided on the Spanish island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, in the deadliest accident in aviation history. 583 people perished. Like the Titanic, a multitude of causes converged into the disaster. A terrorist bomb at a another airport, an overstretched small regional facility, a...

Posted in Charles Betz, IT Management, Service Management Tags: BrightTalk, DevOps, Information Technology Infrastructure Library, Information technology management, IT service management, November, Tenerife

Kaseya Connect

posted by | May 9, 2012 | 0 Comments

KaseyaConnect2012_300x190

I spent three great days last week with Kaseya and its user community. The experience was eye-opening in many ways. A bit of background: EMA considers Kaseya a systems management provider, and as such they are usually covered by my colleagues Steve Brasen and Torsten Volk. However, this year for a couple of different reasons...

Posted in Charles Betz, IT Management, Service Management Tags: AutoTask, Business, Information technology management, IT service management, Kaseya, Managed services, Member of the Scottish Parliament, Professional Services Automation

Two dimensions of enterprise architecture evolution

posted by | April 4, 2012 | 0 Comments

The-evolution-of-enterprise-architecture-3-300x225

Recently, I was invited to give a talk at Troux Directions on the evolution of enterprise architecture (gulp). I think it went pretty well, judging from comments and some of the tweets. The centerpiece slide was this two-dimensional view: (click on the graphic for a better view) EA is not evolving in just one dimension....

Posted in Charles Betz, IT Management, Service Management Tags: Enterprise architecture, Information technology management, Strategic management, Troux Directions

Two Troux days

posted by | April 2, 2012 | 0 Comments

blueprints

Attended the Troux Worldwide event last week as an invited speaker. It was a fantastic event, over 300 attendees from all over the world, and the discussions were consistently deep and thoughtful. It felt very much like a homecoming – while I have been working in the trenches of IT portfolio management, ITSM, ITAM, and related...

Posted in Charles Betz, IT Management, Service Management Tags: Enterprise architecture, IT portfolio management, IT service management

More on next gen ITM

posted by | March 27, 2012 | 0 Comments

data_light_traffic

Spent some time today writing up Serena’s new Demand Management offering; look for an Impact Brief shortly. Along these lines, I’m tracking a number of what I call next generation IT management vendors, which by my definition must incorporate both project and service management capabilities on a common platform with integrated resource management. It’s still...

Posted in Charles Betz, IT Management, Service Management Tags: Demand Management, Information Technology Infrastructure Library, Information technology management, IT service management, Service management

IT cannot prioritize

posted by | March 27, 2012 | 0 Comments

My survey on IT demand management just came in, and it’s fascinating. I could get used to this research thing… As I’ve discussed here, here, and here, trends like DevOps and Lean IT are challenging the traditional silos of technology management, and spurring interest in more unified approaches to IT demand and execution. Until I...

Posted in Charles Betz, IT Management, Service Management

Taking the Pulse of IBM and Maximo

posted by | March 13, 2012 | 0 Comments

IBM-Pulse-2012

I spent a few days at IBM Pulse last week, the IBM conference associated with infrastructure management and the Tivoli product line. It was an enormous event at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas – 8,000 people as announced at the conference. IBM is of course in a class by itself in terms of its...

Posted in Charles Betz, IT Management, Service Management Tags: asset management, DevOps, Enterprise Asset Management, IBM, Maximo, MRO Software, Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration, PeopleSoft

Too Many Tools: Integrating a New IT Management System

posted by | February 24, 2012 | 0 Comments

“Too many tools!” That’s how IT managers feel. The systems needed just to run IT can cost millions to acquire and operate. Yet without appropriate tools, how can you run a service desk, IT operations center, or a project management office? Undoubtedly, it’s critical that your IT management tools approach be well thought out. You...

Posted in Charles Betz, IT Management, Service Management Tags: ALM, Application Lifecycle Management, Configuration management, IT service management, ITSM, Project Management, Release management, Service desk (ITSM)