Automate the Science, Free the art

Many occupations and activities have been described as a combination of ‘ art and science ‘. I would assume the science part covers the implementation of processes in a methodical manner. The art part would cover everything else, such  the inception of the process, interacting with the environment, unexpected events, persuasion, etc .

Computers and machines are taking over the science part of the equation. Add rules and AI into the mix and its encroaching on some of the art as well.

The distance between creative thought and implementation is becoming smaller and smaller over time. This will lead to a new age of ‘interesting’ innovations and disruption in existing industries as the ‘expensive process’ barrier to entry shrinks.

Over 100 hit and counting

Thank you to all my reader I have achieved over 100 hits. Thanks also to linkedIn.com which has been the main source of that traffic. If anyone of my readers has learnt something useful from their visit - I will be more than happy. Thanks again.

Hash-map to XML with recursion

public static class MapEntryConverter implements Converter {

       public boolean canConvert(Class clazz) {
               return AbstractMap.class.isAssignableFrom(clazz);
       }
       public void marshal(Object value, HierarchicalStreamWriter writer, MarshallingContext context) {
        AbstractMap map = (AbstractMap) value;
        for (Object obj : map.entrySet()) {
               Entry entry = (Entry) obj;
               writer.startNode(entry.getKey().toString());
               if (entry.getValue() instanceof HashMap) {
                   marshal(entry.getValue(), writer, context);
               } else {
                   writer.setValue(entry.getValue().toString());
               }
               writer.endNode();
           }      
       }
      
       public Object unmarshal(HierarchicalStreamReader reader, UnmarshallingContext context) {
           Map<String, Object> map = new HashMap<String, Object>();

           while(reader.hasMoreChildren()) {
                   reader.moveDown();
                   map.put(reader.getNodeName(), reader.getValue());
                   reader.moveUp();
               }
               return map;
           }

    }

The code shown above is based on the Xstream code provided in this link from stackoverflow.com. A recursive call is added to take account of nested Hashmaps.

Stream lined processes and creativity

Where you find efficient and elegant processes you will find open-minded, high quality leaders and managers. These processes make complex activities appear simple as opposed to poor process which make simple activities complex. Talented workers will recognise poor processes and leave the organisation if they unable to change the process ( ...and there is another job waiting for them).

With a simple and efficient processes in place, which are allowed to evolve and change, creativity will flourish. The mind can focus on developing innovate solutions to other issues as opposed to worrying about breaking something (system, code, database, document etc) while following a poor process.

Small action big results vs large action small results

Where processes are manual and complex in nature invariable a large amount of effort is required to achieve the smallest result. Sometimes this can be a deliberate strategy to transfer responsibility down the line. Where small actions produce produce big results, responsibility is more concentrated – so more care needs to be taken. The higher risks of small action and big results are more than off-set by increased productivity, reduced costs and greater job satisfaction for those willing to take on the responsibility.

Business Process and Culture

Business Processes mirrors the organisations culture. Long winding and complex manual processes usually reflects a business culture which lacks creativity - if it is not broke then no fix is required. New processes then follow the same template.

Without a change or even a modification in culture poor process will persist. A company may hire an external consultant to provide advice on streamlining processes. In the short to medium term time-frame, these new processes may be maintained. In the long-term as the business evolves and new business requirements need to be satisfied, the company culture will ultimately drive the evolution of new processes. Old ways of doing things will gradually morph the new processes back to the old or a hybrid variant. 

Silo mindset

Silo mindset - The growth of silo centric systems can attributed to the prevalent silo-mindset within the IT departments and leadership.

Business users (stakeholders) within a IT project, are its fundamental participants. They provide requirement to get the job done. They push for solutions which meets their needs and their needs alone - regardless of what's going on in the rest of the organisation. In most cases you can say that Business users have silo mindset. And this is perfectly natural.

As the IT professional within the project , maybe the Project manager, or Business analyst, you have have 2 choices in dealing with with silo-mindsets

Choice 1 - Go along with these business requirements to the letter. They then produce a silo based system with its own data-store and little or no integration

Choice 2- Propose the building of a system with integration as a major additional requirement.

Choice 2 will cost more and probably to take come time to complete , but these short term cost are more than made up by the long term benefits of transparency, lower maintenance cost and many other benefits of integration.