Writing
Articles on data & AI strategy, enterprise architecture, domain-driven design and broadcast IT. Some of them are in German.
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Where Does Your AI's Context Actually Come From?
Enterprise governance has been built for data at rest: data sits in a system, someone has access, and this access is documented. AI assistants assemble their context at runtime, per request, from sources nobody has modeled together so far. I think what is missing here is an architecture view, and enterprise architecture already has the instruments to create it.
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Your Bus Factor of One Is Retiring: How to Get Forty Years of Judgement Out of One Head
A generation with a lot of cross-domain experience is about to retire, and AI is often presented as the answer. This article looks at three options to replace such a person: build a successor, spread the knowledge across several people, or support this with AI. It turns out that the knowledge needs to be written down first, and that this is where AI can help the most.
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Security by Design for Analytics Platforms: What Changes When Your Users Face State-Level Threats
Most security reviews of an analytics platform ask what happens to the organization if data leaks. For some organizations it is more important what happens to their users, as reading or sharing certain content can put a person in prison. This changes the architecture of such a platform, from data minimization to access control.
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Meet Once, Not Twice: Think Your Data and AI Organization Together
Most companies run their data initiative and their AI initiative as two separate projects, and both of them book their own meetings with Security, Legal and Enterprise Architecture. I would plan both organizations together, with one governance table where the important questions are answered once.
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Beyond EBUCorePlus: Why Leaner Ontologies and Data Autonomy Win the Streaming War
To compete with streaming platforms, TV broadcasters need to develop new products quickly. I think the search for one perfect, universal data model slows them down. I propose domain ownership, data products and a minimal central ontology instead, which governs the joins between systems and not every single attribute.
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Web App “Lyrics to Morse Code and MIDI Generator”
A small web app which translates lyrics into Morse code and exports the result as a MIDI file, so that I can hide the words in the rhythm of an instrumental track. I wrote it in Python ten years ago and rebuilt it for the browser to try out AI-assisted coding.
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Digital Sovereignty for CIOs: From a Vague Fear to a Board-Ready Decision
Many CIOs are asked how dependent their company is on US cloud providers and what they should do about it. A dependency on its own is not a risk, as risk only arises in context. Enterprise Architecture can make this context visible, so that the board can take a decision.
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CIO-Fragestellungen zur digitalen Souveränität - Mit Enterprise Architektur geopolitische Risiken meistern
Ein Hinweis auf meinen Artikel im INNOQ-Blog. Er beschreibt, wie Enterprise Architektur dabei helfen kann, das Risiko bezüglich der Nutzung von US-Cloud-Services strukturiert zu bewerten und daraus passende Aktionen abzuleiten.
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Warum das Öffentlich-Rechtliche Fernsehen heute so wichtig ist
Viele Medien bevorzugen provokante oder extreme Positionen, weil diese unsere Aufmerksamkeit länger binden. Das öffentlich-rechtliche Fernsehen hat dagegen den Auftrag, unseren Horizont zu erweitern, und fördert damit mehr Verständnis für Andersdenkende. Dieser Artikel beschreibt, warum das für die Demokratie wichtig ist und was die Öffentlich-Rechtlichen in den sozialen Medien noch tun könnten.
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Doing the Right Things with Enterprise Architecture
For an IT initiative to become a success, the goals of the company need to be known, and out of everything that could be done you need to select the few things which are feasible and support these goals best. This article describes how Enterprise Architecture helps with this, following the phases of TOGAF’s ADM.
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How to Actually Land an AI Strategy
AI initiatives rarely get stuck because of the technology. Much more often there is no clear mandate, no link to the goals of the company, or no way to show what the work was worth. The five steps in this article address these things first.
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INNOQ Podcast “Enterprise Architektur”
A new INNOQ podcast episode (in German). Anja Kammer and I talk about how Enterprise Architecture can make sure that IT supports the goals and the strategy of a company. In simple terms: be accessible, friendly, smile and help others grow.
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A Company Is Organized Conflict
Departments in a company follow different goals, and the people working in them have their own goals, too. Decisions taken by escalation or by vote therefore often lead to nothing. What I try to do instead is to understand what the people involved need, so that we find an action everyone can commit to.
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Migrate P5 Archive Server to the Cloud
How to move an on-premises Archiware P5 Archive server to the cloud when it archives media data to S3 storage like WASABI: the setup we started with, the reasons for the move, and the steps of the migration.
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INNOQ Podcast “Alles zu kompliziert”
A new INNOQ podcast episode (in German). Sven Johann, Jörg Müller and I talk about why technical solutions become overly complex, when this starts to hurt, and how you can address it.
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Taking Decisions
Selecting an option is only the last step of taking a decision. This post goes through the steps which take place before: timing, purpose, stakeholders, requirements, options and their assessment. It should help you to take better decisions and to understand why other people decide differently from you.
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What is a Domain and Why Should I Care?
In agile organizations everyone talks about domains, yet there is no common understanding of what a domain is. Using a box of Lego blocks I try to show that the right way to cut domains depends on their purpose. Define your goal first, then the criteria to create the domains which help you reach it.
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What does an Enterprise Architect do?
Enterprise Architects help a company to navigate through change: they make it transparent where costs can be reduced, help to optimize the organization and define the future technical structure. You will also find out how Enterprise, Domain and Solution Architects differ, and when it makes sense to hire an Enterprise Architect.