Change is a constant reality of our work. We’ve all seen attempted changes that fall short of their goals. The broader a change impacts people, processes, and/or technologies; the more planning and coordination it takes. Successful change efforts involve a range of skills and disciplines to clearly define and execute the change. As the EA team, applying practices from multiple change disciplines helps us scope the right effort for each engagement..
Change is Interdisciplinary
We believe that the most successful change initiatives make use of best practices from multiple change disciplines, which enable different aspects of a change. Change disciplines we see applied most often at the UW include:
- Agile development
- Business analysis
- Design thinking
- DevOps practices
- IT Service management
- Organizational change management
- Process improvement
- Project and program management
The EA team encourages the use of relevant best practices from all these disciplines. As part of a team, an architect should be able to help the team plan how each discipline can contribute.
Change Disciplines and Resources
Here are a few starting points for learning more about the many disciplines that exist to help change initiatives succeed:
Agile Development
- Join the Agile Community of Practice
- What is Agile Software Development? (Agile Alliance)
- Agile Software Development (Wikipedia)
Business Analysis
- Join the Business Analysis Community of Practice
- What is Business Analysis? (Business Analysis Community of Practice)
- Business Analysis Methods (Business Analysis Community of Practice)
- Business Analysis (Wikipedia)
Design Thinking
- Join the User Experience & Design Thinking Community of Practice
- UW-IT’s Academic Experience Design & Delivery (AXDD) team provides design resources and free consultation
- Introduction to Design Thinking (SAP User Experience Community)
- User Experience Design Guides (UW)
- Design Thinking (Wikipedia)
- User-Centered Design (Wikipedia)
- Human-Centered Design (Wikipedia)
- User Experience Design (Wikipedia)
DevOps Practices
- Join the Embedded Architects Community of Practice
- UW-IT DevOps Toolchains and Practices (UW-IT)
- The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win
IT Service Management
- Join the Service Owners/Service Managers Community
- UW-IT’s Service Management Office (SMO) guides the use of ITSM as a best practice framework for UW-IT
- IT Service Management Portal (UW-IT)
- IT Service Management (Wikipedia)
Organizational Change Management
- UW-IT’s Organizational Change Management team guides the use of change management practices in UW-IT
- What is Change Management? (Prosci)
- What is the ADKAR Model? (Prosci)
- Change Management (Wikipedia)
Process Improvement
- Business Process Management (Wikipedia)
- Business Process Re-Engineering (Wikipedia)
- Lean Thinking (Wikipedia)
- Lean Six Sigma (Wikipedia)
Project and Program Management
- Join the Program Management Community of Practice
- UW-IT’s Program Management Office guides the use of project management best practices in UW-IT
- What is Project Management? (Project Management Institute)
- Project Management – Getting Back to Basics (Project Management Institute)
- Project Documents recommended by the UW-IT PMO
- Project Management (Wikipedia)