Accelerating Innovation Using Enterprise Architecture

At a recent enterprise architecture (EA) conference I challenged enterprise architects to avoid EA compliance and to begin using EA as an enabler for innovation. This challenge appears to resonate with architects and business leaders alike. In addition to numerous articles and posts, I've been asked by InfoQ's Jeevak Kasarkod, a number of clarifying questions regarding this view, so here are details which focus on what we mean when we say innovation, how maturing EA frameworks are impacting innovation, the concept of IT alignment, and other notable events that impact use of EA as a tool for innovation.

Innovation Found in Female Leadership Traits

It may be time for you to tap into your "female" side in order to succeed in today's business environment, according to the book, Social Nation: How to Harness the Power of Social Media to Attract Customers, Motivate Employees, and Grow Your Business (Wiley/Available now). Author Barry Libert contends that the profound cultural shift that's taking place as social networks grow in popularity will raise the value of executives whose management style includes traits that have been traditionally considered "female."

Primary Traits listed include;
1) Listening
2) Knowing what you are not
3) Sharing Rewards
4) Understanding that Business is Personal

Diverse Teams Improve Innovation

Why is it that our star performers do not necessarily create star teams? Is it even possible to improve the collective intelligence of a team and make them more innovative? That’s the question that a team of academics set for themselves.
Being a team themselves, of course they believed in collective intelligence but the harder question was: can it be measured? Is there a group equivalent of IQ? Can the collective intelligence of the group as a whole go above and beyond the abilities of the individual group members? And, if it can, what factors contribute to making a team smarter?

Leading Change in a Web 2.1 World

Recent advances in Web 2.0 technology enable new leadership processes and guidelines that can create great value for organizations. In this important new book—the first title in the new Brookings series on Innovations in Leadership—management expert Jackson Nickerson proposes a combination of processes and guidelines utilizing Web 2.0 technology, which he refers to as Web 2.1, that will not only lead and direct change in an organization but actually accelerate it. He calls this set of processes and guidelines “ChangeCasting,” and it should be an important part of any organization’s leadership toolkit.

Innovation in Mobile Computing for Science and Technology

Enterprise mobile computing is a significant innovation having impact across all professional disciplines. The future vision for mobile computing is influencing science and technology and mobile applications have been developed to enhance education, access to global scientific references, chemical and biological utilities and medical tool sets. New mobile applications for science and technology can be hard to find so I thought I'd compile a list. I listed more that 70 science, research and technology applications designed for mobile devices.

Let me know if you find other great mobile science and technology application and I'll update this list.