Technologists who want their ideas heard, understood, and funded are often told to speak the language of businessâ??without really knowing what that is. This bookâ??s toolkit provides architects, product managers, technology managers, and executives with a shared languageâ??in the form of repeatable, practical patterns and templatesâ??to produce great technology strategies. Author Eben Hewitt developed 39 patterns over the course of a decade in his work as CTO, CIO, and chief architect for several global tech companies. With these proven tools, you can define, create, elaborate, refine, and communicate your architecture goals, plans, and approach in a way that executives can readily understand, approve, and execute. This book covers: Architecture and strategy: Adopt a strategic architectural mindset to make a meaningful material impact Creating your strategy: Define the components of your technology strategy using proven patterns Communicating the strategy: Convey your technology strategy in a compelling way to a variety of audiences Bringing it all together: Employ patterns individually or in clusters for specific problems; use the complete framework for a comprehensive strategy
Most companies waste billions of dollars on technology. Don't be one of them. If you need the best practices and ideas for unleashing technology's strategic potential--but don't have time to find them--this book is for you. Here are eight inspiring and useful perspectives, all in one place. This collection of HBR articles will help you: - Clarify corporate strategy with your IT department - Fund only IT projects that support your strategy - Transform IT investments into profits - Build one technology platform for your entire organization - Adopt new technologies only when their best practices are established - Use analytics to make smart decisions at all levels of your company - Integrate social media into your business
Using research in neurobiology, cognitive science and learning theory, this text loads patterns into your brain in a way that lets you put them to work immediately, makes you better at solving software design problems, and improves your ability to speak the language of patterns with others on your team.
Praise for Design Patterns in Ruby "Design Patterns in Ruby documents smart ways to resolve many problems that Ruby developers commonly encounter. Russ Olsen has done a great job of selecting classic patterns and augmenting these with newer patterns that have special relevance for Ruby. He clearly explains each idea, making a wealth of experience available to Ruby developers for their own daily work." —Steve Metsker, Managing Consultant with Dominion Digital, Inc. "This book provides a great demonstration of the key 'Gang of Four' design patterns without resorting to overly technical explanations. Written in a precise, yet almost informal style, this book covers enough ground that even those without prior exposure to design patterns will soon feel confident applying them using Ruby. Olsen has done a great job to make a book about a classically 'dry' subject into such an engaging and even occasionally humorous read." —Peter Cooper "This book renewed my interest in understanding patterns after a decade of good intentions. Russ picked the most useful patterns for Ruby and introduced them in a straightforward and logical manner, going beyond the GoF's patterns. This book has improved my use of Ruby, and encouraged me to blow off the dust covering the GoF book." —Mike Stok "Design Patterns in Ruby is a great way for programmers from statically typed objectoriented languages to learn how design patterns appear in a more dynamic, flexible language like Ruby." —Rob Sanheim, Ruby Ninja, Relevance Most design pattern books are based on C++ and Java. But Ruby is different—and the language's unique qualities make design patterns easier to implement and use. In this book, Russ Olsen demonstrates how to combine Ruby's power and elegance with patterns, and write more sophisticated, effective software with far fewer lines of code. After reviewing the history, concepts, and goals of design patterns, Olsen offers a quick tour of the Ruby language—enough to allow any experienced software developer to immediately utilize patterns with Ruby. The book especially calls attention to Ruby features that simplify the use of patterns, including dynamic typing, code closures, and "mixins" for easier code reuse. Fourteen of the classic "Gang of Four" patterns are considered from the Ruby point of view, explaining what problems each pattern solves, discussing whether traditional implementations make sense in the Ruby environment, and introducing Ruby-specific improvements. You'll discover opportunities to implement patterns in just one or two lines of code, instead of the endlessly repeated boilerplate that conventional languages often require. Design Patterns in Ruby also identifies innovative new patterns that have emerged from the Ruby community. These include ways to create custom objects with metaprogramming, as well as the ambitious Rails-based "Convention Over Configuration" pattern, designed to help integrate entire applications and frameworks. Engaging, practical, and accessible, Design Patterns in Ruby will help you build better software while making your Ruby programming experience more rewarding.
A must-have recipe book for building software Perhaps you can relate to this all-too common scenario: you know all about your software product?but could do with some help in understanding the strategic side of things. If so, this book is the one-stop resource you'll need in order to become a successful software entrepreneur. Patterns expert Allan Kelly provides you with the step-by-step route that needs to be followed in order to understand business strategy and operations. Each chapter starts out with a solid introduction and theoretical overview, which is then further illustrated with patterns and case studies, all aimed at helping you move into the management of software. Teaches you the ropes of business strategy and operations for software Places special emphasis on the patterns for those who make software for sale Addresses patterns philosophy, patterns strategies, business strategy patterns, and software company lifecycle Shares practical tools, tips, and examples of best practices so you can see how each specific pattern fits in and needs to be implemented. Business Patterns for Software Development divulges strategies, operations, and structures for building successful software.
With this practical book, architects, CTOs, and CIOs will learn a set of patterns for the practice of architecture, including analysis, documentation, and communication. Author Eben Hewitt shows you how to create holistic and thoughtful technology plans, communicate them clearly, lead people toward the vision, and become a great architect or Chief Architect. This book covers each key aspect of architecture comprehensively, including how to incorporate business architecture, information architecture, data architecture, application (software) architecture together to have the best chance for the system’s success. Get a practical set of proven architecture practices focused on shipping great products using architecture Learn how architecture works effectively with development teams, management, and product management teams through the value chain Find updated special coverage on machine learning architecture Get usable templates to start incorporating into your teams immediately Incorporate business architecture, information architecture, data architecture, and application (software) architecture together
How to close the gap between strategy and execution Two-thirds of executives say their organizations don’t have the capabilities to support their strategy. In Strategy That Works, Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi explain why. They identify conventional business practices that unintentionally create a gap between strategy and execution. And they show how some of the best companies in the world consistently leap ahead of their competitors. Based on new research, the authors reveal five practices for connecting strategy and execution used by highly successful enterprises such as IKEA, Natura, Danaher, Haier, and Lego. These companies: • Commit to what they do best instead of chasing multiple opportunities • Build their own unique winning capabilities instead of copying others • Put their culture to work instead of struggling to change it • Invest where it matters instead of going lean across the board • Shape the future instead of reacting to it Packed with tools you can use for building these five practices into your organization and supported by in-depth profiles of companies that are known for making their strategy work, this is your guide for reconnecting strategy to execution.
As the digital economy changes the rules of the game for enterprises, the role of software and IT architects is also transforming. Rather than focus on technical decisions alone, architects and senior technologists need to combine organizational and technical knowledge to effect change in their company’s structure and processes. To accomplish that, they need to connect the IT engine room to the penthouse, where the business strategy is defined. In this guide, author Gregor Hohpe shares real-world advice and hard-learned lessons from actual IT transformations. His anecdotes help architects, senior developers, and other IT professionals prepare for a more complex but rewarding role in the enterprise. This book is ideal for: Software architects and senior developers looking to shape the company’s technology direction or assist in an organizational transformation Enterprise architects and senior technologists searching for practical advice on how to navigate technical and organizational topics CTOs and senior technical architects who are devising an IT strategy that impacts the way the organization works IT managers who want to learn what’s worked and what hasn’t in large-scale transformation
The current work provides CIOs, software architects, project managers, developers, and cloud strategy initiatives with a set of architectural patterns that offer nuggets of advice on how to achieve common cloud computing-related goals. The cloud computing patterns capture knowledge and experience in an abstract format that is independent of concrete vendor products. Readers are provided with a toolbox to structure cloud computing strategies and design cloud application architectures. By using this book cloud-native applications can be implemented and best suited cloud vendors and tooling for individual usage scenarios can be selected. The cloud computing patterns offer a unique blend of academic knowledge and practical experience due to the mix of authors. Academic knowledge is brought in by Christoph Fehling and Professor Dr. Frank Leymann who work on cloud research at the University of Stuttgart. Practical experience in building cloud applications, selecting cloud vendors, and designing enterprise architecture as a cloud customer is brought in by Dr. Ralph Retter who works as an IT architect at T‐Systems, Walter Schupeck, who works as a Technology Manager in the field of Enterprise Architecture at Daimler AG,and Peter Arbitter, the former head of T Systems’ cloud architecture and IT portfolio team and now working for Microsoft. Voices on Cloud Computing Patterns Cloud computing is especially beneficial for large companies such as Daimler AG. Prerequisite is a thorough analysis of its impact on the existing applications and the IT architectures. During our collaborative research with the University of Stuttgart, we identified a vendor-neutral and structured approach to describe properties of cloud offerings and requirements on cloud environments. The resulting Cloud Computing Patterns have profoundly impacted our corporate IT strategy regarding the adoption of cloud computing. They help our architects, project managers and developers in the refinement of architectural guidelines and communicate requirements to our integration partners and software suppliers. Dr. Michael Gorriz – CIO Daimler AG Ever since 2005 T-Systems has provided a flexible and reliable cloud platform with its “Dynamic Services”. Today these cloud services cover a huge variety of corporate applications, especially enterprise resource planning, business intelligence, video, voice communication, collaboration, messaging and mobility services. The book was written by senior cloud pioneers sharing their technology foresight combining essential information and practical experiences. This valuable compilation helps both practitioners and clients to really understand which new types of services are readily available, how they really work and importantly how to benefit from the cloud. Dr. Marcus Hacke – Senior Vice President, T-Systems International GmbH This book provides a conceptual framework and very timely guidance for people and organizations building applications for the cloud. Patterns are a proven approach to building robust and sustainable applications and systems. The authors adapt and extend it to cloud computing, drawing on their own experience and deep contributions to the field. Each pattern includes an extensive discussion of the state of the art, with implementation considerations and practical examples that the reader can apply to their own projects. By capturing our collective knowledge about building good cloud applications and by providing a format to integrate new insights, this book provides an important tool not just for individual practitioners and teams, but for the cloud computing community at large. Kristof Kloeckner – General Manager,Rational Software, IBMSoftware Group
Patterns of Strategy shows how the strategic fit between organisations drives strategic direction. It is essential reading for those who wish to understand how to manoeuvre their organisation to change its strategic fit to their advantage. The 80 ‘patterns’ of strategy help you explore options for collaboration and competition within your strategic ecosystem. A practical and authoritative guide, you can use it to plan and navigate your strategic future.
