What's Your Baseline? Enterprise Architecture & Business Process Management Demystified

In this episode of the What's Your Baseline podcast we are changing up the format a bit - this is the first of many interviews that we will have in the future. Our guest today is Mike Idengren, who has 20+ years of experience combining EA, BPM, and agile solution development methodologies to unleash cross-functional teams' potential to deliver on digital business transformation expectations. He is a TOGAF-certified SAFe SPC and instructor, applying "agile at scale" -- going beyond theoretical teaching, and delivering results by implementing "just enough" tools, organizational structures, and processes. We are talking about the following topics: - Mike's background and how he got into Agile - (Scaled) Agile as a discipline and its "big goal" - The layers of Scaled Agile and the roles that architects play in each layer - The value context: improving product quality, lowering risk together, and improving sustainability.  - How to implement Scaled Agile: leadership, start small, scale - Doing Agile in a remote environment (vs. traditional "team is in the room" approach); which tools to use and which type of (consulting) resources to bring on board - Governance and the LACE (Lean Agile Center of Excellence) - Mike's patent-pending "Lean Agile Blocker Index" concept - Lean Scaled Architect's offerings Mike can be reached by sending a note to mike@leanscaledarchitects.com and you can learn more about his firm at www.leanscaledarchitects.com. Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or leaving us a voice message by clicking here. The  full show notes, including graphics, further links, credits, and transcript, are available at whatsyourbaseline.com/episode6.

Welcome to episode 5 of the What’s Your Baseline podcast. Today we are talking about: Definitions: Frameworks (structures), Methods (processes), Notations (languages), Reference Content (content) How to implement these? This is part of the Technical Governance implementation phase; write it down in your EA Strategy document Document your standards. When and how to change the standards (too often diminishes trust; org Change Mgmt / socialization is key) Have your method and data define/support your standards so they are "fit for purpose" Action-focused vs. function-focused notations How to run process design workshops in multiple sessions Geek-out over various notation examples (BPMN, DMN, EPC, UML, IDEF, ArchiMate) - observations on how they are used in real life Use a common structure, such as TOGAF's ADM, to train users and make finding things easier for them in the future Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com or leaving us a voice message by clicking here. The  full show notes, including graphics, further links, credits, and transcript, are available at whatsyourbaseline.com/episode5.

Welcome to episode 4 of the What’s Your Baseline podcast. We are talking about: Types of architecture tools: drawing tools, implementation front ends, database-driven architecture tools How users see things: data-driven visualization vs. visualization-driven data (tables vs diagrams) Focus of architecture tools > niche vendors - your stakeholder needs drive the focus What to look for when selecting tools: How do you get started (personal equipment, existing information, etc.) Selecting the tool - what to look for: modeling, dashboards, wiki, data ingestion + insights Functionalities of architecture tools Deployment and cost People Non-functional criteria (vendor, community, change readiness, etc.) Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com, or leaving us a voice message by clicking here. The  full show notes, including graphics, further links, credits, and transcript, are available at whatsyourbaseline.com/episode4.

Welcome to episode 3 of the What’s Your Baseline podcast. The topic of this episode is how to implement your architecture tool(s). We are talking about: What do people look for when buying an architecture tool? What is the end perspective on the architecture tool implementation? The importance of personas and the value proposition for them - outside-in perspective Four big steps of implementing an architecture tool - inside-out perspective Strategy: strategy definition, releases, measure success Technology: tool selection, tech setup, technical governance (data model, meta model, configuration, conventions), other systems and integration Governance: processes, organizations, org change management Import of existing content Three legs that need to be balanced: content - governance - adoption Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com, or leaving us a voice message by clicking here. The  full show notes, including graphics, further links, credits, and transcript, are available at whatsyourbaseline.com/episode3.

Welcome to episode 2 of the What’s Your Baseline podcast. In this episode we are covering the topic of “Why BPM and EA?” and why these two topics might not be even different, but rather be the two sides of  the same coin. We are discussing the following topics: Terminology Four phases of process management History of EA as a practice How organizations practice these two topics and where the discipline moves towards to The merge of Strategy groups, architecture groups, and PMOs Capabilities as bridge between strategy and the actual execution Risks and benefits of capabilities Capability configurations as planning tool Case studies of retailer and a military client Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com, or leaving us a voice message by clicking here. The  full show notes, including further links, credits, and transcript, are available at whatsyourbaseline.com/episode2.

Welcome to the inaugural episode of the What's Your Baseline podcast. We're glad that you join us! In this episode we are talking about us -your hosts Roland Woldt and J-M Erlendson- and our journeys in enterprise architecture and business process management, so that you get familiar with our voices and background. It also covers the challenges that we've seen when clients want to stand up these capabilities, as well as "being the newbie" on a program - be it as a new employee, a new consultant, or simply just being exposed to these topics for the first time. Lastly, we also talk about this new podcast - why we started it, what you can expect, when new episodes will be published, and a general overview of season 1. Please reach out to us by either sending an email to hello@whatsyourbaseline.com, or leaving us a voice message by clicking here. The  full show notes, including further links, credits, and transcript, are available at whatsyourbaseline.com/episode1.

Have you ever been confused by jargon-y architect language? Things like "TOGAF", "BPMN", and "UML" - what do they mean, and why do they matter? Or suffered through a system implementation that had a lot of upfront planning, but ended up with scope creep? Welcome to the What's Your Baseline podcast, where we explore these topics and more. Each episode, we’ll be diving into a topic that is relevant for you. What it is, why it’s interesting and why you should care. We’ll also share stories from the road - how to implement best practices, and their value. Our season 1 focus is on investigating assumptions and principles, and setting yourself and your organization up for success. We'll also bring in fresh perspectives from some of our favorite thought leaders through live interviews! Join us on this bi-weekly journey starting in early August 2021 with the What’s Your Baseline podcast and companion blog at whatsyourbaseline.com.