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sustainable product strategies |
“If we want to go to the moon again, we'll be starting from scratch because all of that knowledge has disappeared,” said a NASA manager.
From the book, “Lost Knowledge:
Confronting the Threat
of an Aging Workforce”
by David W. DeLong.
insight papers
Here is a small sampling of Blue Rabbit insight papers.
The Nature of Data:
In the grand scheme of things we created the Internet very quickly – why? Mostly because, having iterated data and data management across Mainframes and then on to Minis – and again on into Micros, a 30 year span – we really knew what the problems were going to be and how to do it. Many of the data layer problems were identical across the environments and platforms and, having mastered it but “lightened” the processes due to the shrinking size of the computer hardware and costs, we really knew how to do it well and do it quickly. Even though the frameworks and the environments changed – the data management and systems engineering essentially remained the same.
Fast forward to today… all things “data” are inexpensive, and most data has become broadly defined (music, movies, sound and so on) and easier to handle (bounce from machine to machine). Data is fluid, it’s lightweight, it’s simple to capture and even easier to replicate… yes? Absolutely! But…
Oh boy! We’re messing up our thinking on the subject of Data! The Big Data… serious personal data – where your bank account lives, the title to your property, your credit rating is evaluated, your health records are stored, your spending habits are evaluated – and the world in which most Governments, Financial Institutions, Medical Institutions, Commerce and Business see the real “you”.
Over the last several years we have been deluged by reports of hiccups, lost data, serious downtime… it’s seemingly epidemic. Not to mention that identity theft is now the highest profile white-collar crime that we all live in fear of. It’s time to take the subject of “data” very seriously.
We’ve taken the “lightweight” and the “inexpensive” way too seriously and, as an industry, we are – in our opinion – way too cavalier. The concept of Data is systematically being corrupted by simplistic techniques that move it around!
Systems engineering is now in the hands of the next generation who, not aware of why systems and procedures were put into place, are reducing software and systems development to “tool-smithing”. We have a new generation of tool smiths, experts inside today’s products, who can make the tools sing and dance… but at what cost? Things were done for a reason. We had Notaries for a reason. We had time-stamping for a reason. We had methods of authenticating ourselves for a reason. All of this has been trampled in the name of rapid systems development. As the boomer generation retires, all of this institutional intelligence will be lost. Continued irresponsible development of Internet-based applications without the very necessary and hard learnt systems rationality will be disastrous!
The effect on the music industry has been obvious and catastrophic – but we are yet to experience the effects on everyday life. To “old school” systems designers and architects, those professionals that we are willing to throw away, it’s obvious and it’s going to be devastating. Consequently, we are attempting to document it here prior to it happening and prior to our profession being commoditized.
This series of papers, beginning with the Nature of Data, continues to explore the evolution of the digital age, what it means to all of us, how it affects our lives – but, more to the point, how it drives the design of systems and data processing.
Data. Systems. Signatures. Authentication. Privacy. Security. Self-management. Change Management. Owning. Purchasing. Using
The world is “commoditizing” systems engineering and creating tools that allow designers and coders to trample on basic processes and necessary check-and-balance systems at an alarming rate. Left to continue, we will be in such a mess that recouping is going to be nigh impossible.
This series of papers is the beginning of a number of documents intended to explore the meaning of “data” and our ability to keep it safe and keep it authentic. Intentionally provocative, it is our hope that they will create dialogue and some saner approaches to the safekeeping of “real data”. This, the first in the series, looks at what we are doing with data and hypothesizes where we are going with it.
Volume 1 – Digitize it all!
We are really messing up our thinking on the subject of Data! No, not the character on Star Trek but the real world of “big data”: the world where your bank account lives; the title to your property is; your credit rating is evaluated; your health records are stored; your spending habits are evaluated – and the world in which most Governments, Financial Institutions, Medical Institutions, Commerce and Business see the real “you”. Yet, over the last several years, we have been deluged by reports of hiccups, lost data, serious downtime… it’s seemingly epidemic. Not to mention that identity theft is now the highest profile white-collar crime that we all live in fear of. It’s time to take the subject of “data” very seriously.
The nature of data, data storage and data processing has changed dramatically – unfortunately our attitudes at a personal level have not. Those flash drives are too small to take seriously – right? What does it matter if I leave it on a train… or drop it in the pub? Who would care? WE SHOULD BE CARING… BIG TIME! If the teeny-weeny flash drive contains the intimate data on 2,000,000 children, their parents, their home addresses and their bank account information – that is a major data loss event! We are out of control.
We: the industry, the visionaries, the technology evangelists – and even individuals, had better start caring really quickly. We are spiraling out of control, one step at a time.
Volume 2 – Transient vs. Persistent Data.
The world of data has split into two completely separate pieces! When I say “data” in this sense, I mean the world of Big Data … the world where your bank account lives; the title to your property is; your credit rating is evaluated; your health records are stored; your spending habits are evaluated – and the world in which most Governments, Financial Institutions, Medical Institutions, Commerce and Business see the real “you”. There is a serious difference between this type of data and the music you download from iTunes, movies you download, emails, or photos of your family that you transmit…
We now have a world of Transient (lightweight, and can be readily replicated) data and Persistent (industrial strength, absolute and definitive source) data. Yet, we are treating them the same. They are NOT the same… they do not cost the same to maintain, nor to build, nor to protect, nor to secure. If you are managing source data – then, by definition, it is Persistent… and you have to take that seriously.
Over the last several years, we have been deluged by reports of hiccups, lost data, serious downtime and escalating project costs… it’s seemingly epidemic. Not to mention that identity theft is now the highest profile white-collar crime that we all live in fear of. It’s time to take the subject of “data” very seriously and appreciate that there are clearly two very different kinds of data. We’ve taken the “lightweight” and “rapid”, and “agile” and the “inexpensive” way too far – and as an industry, we are, in our opinion, too cavalier when it comes to personal data. Transient data and Persistent data are completely different from each other.
The Nature of Systems:
This series of papers is the beginning of a number of documents intended to explore the meaning of “systems” and our ability to keep data and processes safe, balanced and authentic.
What ever happened to the Systems Analysts?
Intentionally provocative, it is our hope that they will create dialogues and some saner approaches to the safekeeping of “real data” and the processes that provide longevity and authentication.
