In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, brimming with fresh ideas and novel concepts, we, as innovators, must remain keenly attuned to the operationalization of value-driven technologies. The fundamental objective of this effort is to achieve True Success, which revolves around two fundamental principles: achieving value-driven success (through intended business objectives) and operationalization (deploying to operations) - From Ideas to Reality = True Success.
To further clarify what we mean by “True Success”, it is imperative to understand that it involves not just doing things right but doing the right things. True Success is realized when we operationalize a system, project, or idea that consistently fulfills its intended business objectives (value-driven outcome) throughout its lifespan. Without operationalization, even the most groundbreaking ideas, systems, or technologies will never transcend the experimental phase — the prototyping, proof of concept, or lab stage. Similarly, operationalized projects failing to meet their intended objectives are fruitless; they are not value driven. So, how do we increase the True Success achievement rate?
Based on my experience, we’ve utilized a proven and effective blueprint across multiple industries, ensuring True Success for new technologies. Any idea, concept, system, technology, or operation reengineering that includes any element of operationalization must leverage three disciplines to best position the organization for True Success: Enterprise Architecture (EA), Systems Engineering (SE), and Foresight & Technology Strategies (F&TS). This tripartite approach forms a blueprint, or what I refer to as the Triangle of Value-driven Operationalization (TVO). The image below shows the representation of the TVO blueprint with interconnected disciplines creating an outline of a triangle we will explore further.
Enterprise Architecture (EA)
EA represents True Success's "value-driven (through business objectives)" component. It involves three architectural layers:
The business architecture, including processes, roles & responsibilities, capabilities, mission, objectives, products, projects, and consumers, thereby shaping the organization's models and strategies. By integrating business needs into our design, we set the stage for subsequent architectural layers: data architecture and application architecture.
The data architecture outlines the data needs, sources, interactions, owners, and governance, while application architecture stipulates the software solutions necessary for the organization's adaptability and efficiency.
The technology architecture specifies the hardware and infrastructure on which applications run, including servers and middleware.
By integrating business architecture into all subsequent layers, for both the current and target states, we create a cohesive value-driven formula at the enterprise level — ensuring we build the right thing. However, we require SE to transition this cohesive package into operations. Read more HERE.
Systems Engineering (SE)
SE applies engineering principles and techniques to guide a product from conception to deployment through systematic lifecycle development. SE ensures that our defined "value-driven formula" can be realized operationally — ensuring we build the thing right. Many brilliant ideas falter before reaching operations due to inadequate application of SE principles throughout the design process.
Having defined the ingredients for True Success, we need a third principle to ensure we do so without accruing technical waste and debt. Read more HERE.
Foresight & Technologies Strategy (F&TS)
F&TS keeps us ahead of the unpredictable pace of technology. To achieve True Success, organizations must anticipate future gaps compared to the current state and stay ahead of them. Embracing the "Curate once, reuse multiple times" mantra allows us to create enterprise-level frameworks, fortifying the EA and SE components of the triangle with cutting-edge, efficient technologies for both current and target states. Read more HERE.
It is essential to realize that the three disciplines are interconnected. EA provides frameworks that represent the system developed by SE. Both disciplines are applied cooperatively to refine the blueprint. F&TS identifies the risk and opportunity trends to the organization’s needs and technology requirements defined by SE. SE supports the analysis of the impact of the associated risks and opportunities. The EA defines a path from the current to the target state. F&ST supports the development of various future scenarios and tracks the progress of states to inform the organization about the EA transition path.
Our blueprint, based on the TVO, the MZI Triangle of Value-driven Operationalization (MTVO), has been successfully employed for years at MZI, resulting in significant cost reductions of $44 million and serving over 670 million users annually in aerospace, health, and commercial industries. We leverage this model in all design phases to enable organizations to achieve True Success.
This article intentionally provides a high-level overview to lay the groundwork for more detailed discussions in future articles. I eagerly anticipate your feedback on expanding this blueprint and applications. It's important to note that these three components are interconnected and mutually reinforcing rather than exclusive paradigms. This synergy is precisely what makes them effective in achieving True Success at the enterprise level.
Future topics may include:
Deep dive into each element of TVO (EA, SE, F&TS)
The role of MLOps and EA in increasing the success rate of deploying AI-based systems at the enterprise level
How MTVO contributes to the successful development of Digital Twins
Enhancing the value of Model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE) for organizations through the integration of AI tools
and more...
I invite you to reach out and join the conversation. Let's collaborate to push the boundaries of True Success in our organizations.
Special thanks to the amazing contributors to this article:
James Eselgroth, Edward Huang, Chun-Hung Chen, Ronald Stroup.