Models

Sometimes (and some people would say always), the biggest problems to do with IT are nothing to do with the technologies themselves. This seems unfair – after all, to be successful as a wood carver one needs only to understand how to use a chisel, so why should this not be true for a globally accessible corporate infrastructure and enterprise application implementation that involves changing the lives of thousands of people? Ah. Maybe that’s why. Even smaller projects involve teams of people, who have to work together and with the business to get the job done.

It is not our job to advocate any one philosophy, approach or model that works for all technology deployments. However, from our own and from others’ experience, we do know of certain models that can help us gain a better understanding of what we are trying to achieve and how we are trying to achieve it.

Here we present certain models that you may or may not find useful. Rather than advocating any one particular flavour of model we have grouped them according to their similarities as follows:

Performance models
Architectural models
Stakeholder models
Feedback models
Goal-driven models

Click on a model for a definition and for links to more detailed explanations. Is what you want to know about not in this list? Tell us here -

Performance models

4-phase models (Forming-storming-norming-performing)

Architectural models

Architectural models – 3-tier, client server, distributed/service based

Stakeholder models

Stakeholder models, systems thinking and the Pyramid of needs

Feedback models

Cyclic development and wicked problems

If you ignore the preamble and the fact that the paper leads directly into a sales pitch, there is a good introduction to the theory of wicked problems here.

Goal-driven models

Direct-drive-deliver – The V, Seven habits