What is effectiveness?

A quick overview of effectiveness in the enterprise, and how and why efficiency is only one dimension of overall effectiveness

1. the futures of business
13 Aug 2010 (c) Tom Graves / Tetradian 2010 1
What is effectiveness?
Foundations of whole-of-enterprise architecture
Tom Graves, Tetradian Consulting
August 2010
[email protected] / www.tetradian.com

2. the futures of business
‘Effective’ is more than efficient
Peter Drucker on ‘efficient’ vs ‘effective’:
“efficient is getting things done right;
effective is getting the right things done”
Overall, effectiveness is
getting the right things done right.
Describing ‘effective’ as ‘efficient on purpose’
is a good start, yet we’ll need more than that.
13 Aug 2010 (c) Tom Graves / Tetradian 2010 2

3. the futures of business
Five key themes of effectiveness
•Efficient: optimises use of resources, minimises wastage
of resources
•Reliable: predictable, consistent, self-correcting,
supports ‘single source of truth’ etc
•Elegant: clarity, simplicity, consistency, self-adapting for
human factors
•Appropriate: supports and optimises support for
business purpose
•Integrated: creates, supports and optimises synergy
across all systems
Effectiveness happens when everything supports
everything else!
13 Aug 2010 (c) Tom Graves / Tetradian 2010 3

4. the futures of business
Effectiveness: need for balance
•Most organizations focus
their efforts on efficiency
•Efficiency is only
one dimension
of overall
effectiveness
•For best results,
all elements of
effectiveness must
be managed equally
and consistently
13 Aug 2010 (c) Tom Graves / Tetradian 2010 4
Integrated
(Performance)
Reliable
(Production)
Appropriate
(Purpose)
Elegant
(People)
Efficient
(Preparation)

5. the futures of business
Effectiveness affects everyone
13 Aug 2010 (c) Tom Graves / Tetradian 2010 5
Stakeholders in the broader ecosystem
(includes non-clients, anti-clients, government, general community)
(Enterprise bounded by shared commitment to the vision)
Prospects
Clients
Partners
(must share
same vision)
may also be
clients or
prospects
Service
Providers
(must acknowledge
and align to vision)
may also be
clients or
prospects
Organization
(bounded by rules)
(boundaries may be partly porous)
(see slidedeck ‘What is an enterprise?’ http://www.slideshare.net/tetradian/what-is-an-enterprise )

6. the futures of business
Vision is the core of the enterprise
•Vision and values are anchors for architecture *
–may perhaps not seem crucial within organization, but
are essential to connect with extended-enterprise
•Identifying or defining vision/values is high
priority for whole-enterprise architecture
–vision is one-line summary of what drives the enterprise
–warning: visioning is not a marketing exercise!
•Values relate to or devolve from vision
•Values define enterprise meaning of ‘success’
–organisation’s success-metrics must align with and/or
support enterprise success-metrics
13 Aug 2010 (c) Tom Graves / Tetradian 2010 6
(* See slidedeck ‘Vision, role, mission, goal’
http://www.slideshare.net/tetradian/vision-role-mission-goal-a-framework-for-business-motivation )

7. the futures of business
Effectiveness centres on vision
13 Aug 2010 (c) Tom Graves / Tetradian 2010 7
•Everything in enterprise –
including effectiveness –
must align with vision
•Rotate attention
between
dimensions of
effectiveness
•Vision and values
provide ultimate
tests for success
and effectiveness
Integrated
(Performance)
Reliable
(Production)
Appropriate
(Purpose)
Elegant
(People)
Efficient
(Preparation)
Vision
and
Values

8. the futures of business
13 Aug 2010 (c) Tom Graves / Tetradian 2010 8
Resources: “Tetradian Enterprise Architecture” series
Books on enterprise-architecture by Tom Graves:
•Real Enterprise Architecture: beyond IT to the whole
enterprise
•Bridging the Silos: enterprise architecture for IT-architects
•SEMPER and SCORE: enhancing enterprise effectiveness
•Power and Response-ability: the human side of systems
•The Service Oriented Enterprise: enterprise architecture and
viable systems
•Doing Enterprise Architecture: process and practice in the real
enterprise
•Everyday Enterprise Architecture: sensemaking, strategy,
structures and solutions
See http://tetradianbooks.com for more details.