Best of StraightTalk 2018

Published

03 April 2018

Updated

26 May 2020
Summary
It’s time to look back on the second year of StraightTalk! This is the time when we reflect and recognize your most favorite content from 2018.

It’s hard to believe that nearly two years have elapsed since our first StraightTalk post. We continue to keep true to our educational mission — to explain business architecture, from end-to-end, with the goal of helping to advance the discipline globally through shared knowledge. We believe that this shared understanding can unlock the power of business architecture so it can be fully leveraged to design better organizations, business ecosystems, and societies. StraightTalk is business architecture: distilled, simple, with a bit of fun™.

Our blog is subscribed to and read by business architecture practitioners, leaders, and partners from across six continents. We’re still honored to be a part of your journey, whether you are a business architecture professional, an organization that is establishing a business architecture practice, or an individual who is just passionate about learning more about this rapidly accelerating discipline.

We’ve created a compilation of some of your favorite StraightTalk 2018 content, which you found to be the most inspiring and valuable based on your positive feedback.

To all of you who subscribe, read, and share the blog with others — Thank You for being on this journey with us. We will continue to create valuable content that you can use. We’ll remain committed to delight you in new ways and create clarity around business architecture. Keep reading, keep talking to us, and keep making a difference every day to advance the business architecture discipline — about which we are all passionate!

In This Collection

What follows is a compilation of your favorite StraightTalk posts, diagrams, inspirational quotes and more — all based on your personal feedback and analytics gathered from our social media presence and other sources.

 

The Best StraightTalk Posts

Here were some of your favorite blog posts from 2018:

The Best StraightTalk Podcasts

We were delighted to have another round of podcasts featuring talented and insightful professionals. Here are some favorite featured guests:

The Best StraightTalk Inspirational Quotes

Here are some favorite quips that inspired and motivated you during 2018:

“Because optimism isn’t a belief that things will automatically get better; it’s a conviction that we can make things better.”
Bill and Melinda Gates,
“People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories and magic.”
Seth Godin,
“Business models articulate how an organization looks—not how it works—which reinforces the purpose for its why.”
Linda Finley,
“In its simplest form, agile is about getting things done—and business architecture helps us get the right things done.”
Alex Randell,
“The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.”
William James,
“Drip by drip, day by day, we change the culture.”
Seth Godin,
“There are no separate systems. The world is a continuum. Where to draw a boundary around a system depends on the purpose of the discussion.”
Donella Meadows,
“Business architecture has a huge role to play in the future of organizations. There is no doubt that AI will be an integral part of future business and to effectively implement AI, we need strong business architecture.”
Dr. Raj Ramesh,

The Best StraightTalk Icons

We’re inspired that you like our StraightTalk graphic monikers that accompany each blog post. Here are a few 2018 favorites:

Image
StraightTalk 2018 Favorite Icons

Top Row (left to right) — Post No. 19: Crystal Ball 2018 (a.k.a. Business Architecture Now + a Glimpse Into the Future); Posts No. 23 and 24: Speedy Business Architecture Part 1 and Part 2 (coincided with the 2018 Winter Olympics), Post No. 26: The Canvas Awaits (a.k.a. How Business Models and Business Architecture Fit Together). Bottom Row (left to right) – Post No. 33: Power to the People (a.k.a. How To Deal With Resource Challenges); Post No. 40: Being Disruptive (a.k.a. The Connection Between Business Architecture and Innovation); Post No. 42: From Alpha to Zero (a.k.a. How Business Architecture Helps Organizations Leverage AI).

The Best StraightTalk Diagrams

We promised to give you meaningful diagrams–that you’re welcome to use–in every single post and we’ve kept that commitment. Here are some of your favorites from 2018:

The Best New Made-Up Words

  • Business Marketecture1  – Business architecture + marketing = business marketecture. And sometimes we need a lot of it. (Post No. 34)
  • Business Politecture2  – Business architecture + politics = business politecture. Often important for a business architecture practice to be successful. (Post No. 37)
  • FABAQ [pronounced fab-ə-que] — Frequently Asked Business Architecture Question (FABAQ). We introduced 20 of them in The Business Architecture Sherpa Series, Parts 1 and 2 (Posts No. 29 and 30). Be sure to visit our complete FABAQ that features valuable extra reference material.
  • 1We can’t take credit for these two unique word creations. Here’s a shout-out to an anonymous yet influential business architect whom we worked with many years ago. We practice your ideas daily.
  • 2See above.

Shout-outs

We’re expressing a big thank you to everyone who has shared ideas for new StraightTalk posts and podcasts. We love hearing from our readers and we’re open to your thoughts, questions or comments about business architecture. Keep them coming and you may see your idea as a source for inspiration for an upcoming StraightTalk installment! Click the button below to submit your suggestions for future posts.

Share your ideas

 

A huge thanks to our 2018 guest stars, Linda Finley, Alex Randell, and Dr. Raj Ramesh for their probing podcasts and posts – and for sharing their precious time and insights with all of us.

Many thanks to Communiqué Marketing Solutions LLC for providing continued design creativity for the entire S2E family and especially StraightTalk. We so love your talent for transforming our ideas into compelling visualizations.