Ever wonder if timespans has any practical usefulness? Here is how I used timespans to clear up a communication problem in a global IT architecture group for an international bank.

Awhile back I worked with a group of IT architects at an international bank. The group, although “headquartered” in the US, had members in each of the bank’s regions.

This group had been trying to develop a Architectural Strategy. In that, they had some elements that were predetermined by the relationship they had with the outsource company that was handling IT support. They decided together that their Architectural Strategy would include:

• Technology Refresh Plans (TRP) which were part of the budget, done annually, and handled by the IT management company that had the outsource contract
• Current State Architecture (CSA) which would detail what was currently in-place
• Future State Architecture (FSA) of where the bank should be heading to achieve its business goals in the future
• Long-Range IT Plans (LRITP) that would help the bank achieve certain parts of its goals from “plateau” to “plateau”. These were semi-stable points that would achieve the goals of the Future State in small chunks.

But they couldn’t come to an agreement as to what any of these terms meant.

I was tasked with writing all of this stuff up. Try as I might, I couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

Until I realised that timespan theory could unlock the whole problem. [Read more →]