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Don’t Fall Victim to the Whirlpool of Decision Hype

by Ronald G. Ross on February 9, 2012

Consider the following behavioral business rule: A renter must not have possession of more than one rental car.
In discussing enforcement of this rule, one reviewer said something to the effect, “We have to think about what happens ‘at the time of the decision’.
Hold on. What ‘decision’?! I don’t see any decision. What ‘decision’ could he [...]

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Not Much Luck So Far Bringing in Thoughts on Agile *Business* Governance …

by Ronald G. Ross on January 5, 2012

I’m kicking off 2012 with a couple of things I just don’t get. Here’s the third one: I haven’t been able to find anyone so far talking about agile governance. Why not?!
I recently posted this on an architecture and governance forum:
Is there such a thing as ‘agile’ governance’? What would it entail? Looking for ideas [...]

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Business Rules and Expert Systems/AI … Friends or Foes?

by Ronald G. Ross on December 15, 2011

There are very important differences in the traditions of business rules vs. expert systems. Perhaps that’s why business rules had a completely different origin. In any case, they didn’t start finding each other until the late 1990s. (The first Business Rules Forum Conference was in 1997 … and every year since except in 2000.)
The general [...]

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The Traffic in India: No Rules … or Something Else? And is It Safer?!

by Ronald G. Ross on November 15, 2011

If you’ve never been to India or Latin America, take a look at the following short video. Is what you’re seeing the absence of rules … or something else?
http://www.evolvingexcellence.com/blog/2011/11/control-or-chaos.html
In my travels in Latin America, I long ago perceived that there are two fundamental kinds of driving and traffic:
1. Obedient. In this style, drivers usually follow [...]

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How Business Rules, Decisions, and Events Relate in True-to-Life Business Models

by Ronald G. Ross on November 10, 2011

What is operational business know-how? How can you model it? What results can you achieve by doing so?
The answers lie with creating true-to-life business models based on behavioral rules, decision rules, operational business decisions, and operational business events — all as first-class citizens. Understanding their intertwined roles is key to creating top-notch business solutions and [...]

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Business Analysis with Business Rules: See the Elephant! at Business Rules Forum conference @BBCapability Nov 2 Ft Lauderdale

by Ronald G. Ross on October 26, 2011

Business Rule Forum Keynote – Wednesday, November 2, 2011 – 9:00 AM
I am giving a keynote next week called Business Analysis with Business Rules: See the Elephant! at the Building Business Capability (BBC2011) event in Florida (Nov 2, 9am Eastern). If you’re there, I hope you’ll come. If not, our new book, Building Business Solutions: [...]

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The Debate Continues … Business Rules in Zachman 3.0 … and the Upcoming Business Architecture Summit at BBC2011

by Ronald G. Ross on October 20, 2011

At the Business Architecture Summit in Ft. Lauderdale (BBC2011 – Oct 31 – Nov 4) I will be joining John Zachman and Roger Burlton for one of our rabble-raising 3Amigo sessions. The session is only an hour long, so I’m sure there will be some fast talking(!).
One of the first questions I want John [...]

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Is Agile Development of Business Rules Possible? … And What Would You Call It If It Is?

by Ronald G. Ross on October 18, 2011

I’ve been exploring the meaning of ‘agile’ with respect to business rules. In our new book, we say:
“Business agility results when the IT aspect of change in business policies and business rules disappears into the plumbing. All artificial (IT-based) production freeze dates for deployment disappear and the software release cycle becomes irrelevant. The only constraint [...]

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Scary Estimate about the Correctness of Business Rules in Legacy Systems … Are Yours Better or Worse? Do You Even Know?

by Ronald G. Ross on October 17, 2011

A business analyst at a major insurance company recently said this: “When we looked hard at business rules currently implemented in existing systems, we found at least 30% were flatly wrong. That’s a very conservative estimate: the actual figure was probably much higher.”
How does that estimate compare to yours? Have you ever done an assessment? [...]

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Bots “Communicating” (Funny!) … What about SBVR and RuleSpeak?

by Ronald G. Ross on October 10, 2011

If you want to hear state-of-the-art machines (bots) talk to each other, see: http://goo.gl/LEIMI Funny! Rude and petty … just like humans sometimes. I don’t think we’re quite there on Star-Trek-style communication with machines(!).
If you want to see a suitable set of guidelines for writing unambiguous business rules that machines should be able to understand, [...]

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