Bye bye 2020

2020 has, by all accounts, been a crazy year. Not just for me, for everybody. A dear friend recently commented that pretty soon she'll qualify as a professional hermit, which sounds about right for my situation as well. With just two days until the new year, I thought it would be a good idea to browse through my diary and synthesise my reflection and get ready for the new year. I've added several sections on various topics, such as Covid (of course), research & personal development, and work in the field. The more personal reflection my home life will stay that: personal.

Covid

The Covid pandemic, no doubt, has a huge impact on everyone. Both the virus itself, and the measures we take to counter the virus have a disruptive effect on our way of life. A few months ago I already shared some of my thoughts on the pandemic based on a debate with prof de Wit. In that article, I was working towards the conclusion that dealing with the pandemic is a complex problem (in the Cynefin sense. If you want to stick another label to it, I believe it would classify as a wicked problem): there are so many interacting variables that getting a full understanding of what is going on is beyond us, at least presently.

Let's narrow it down to the health aspect only, and ignore the socio-economic ramifications for a minute. My personal observation is that the number of people who are infected and show symptoms is still staggering. The latest numbers seem to indicate a downward trend but still, we've seen that before. Also, the number of people with serious symptoms is high. You don't have to die to classify as 'serious symptoms' either: one of my former students (whom I also consider to be a dear friend with lots of girlpower - you know who you are!) has been down for months before she was able to perform a simple task as walking her dog again. Definitely not "just another flu".

If you look at the numbers, then it still is hard to draw any definite conclusions about key variables such as number of infections, number of infections with a serious impact, change in mortality rates as a result of Covid etcetera. This fits with my observation that we're in the complex domain: by its very nature, at least presently, there are too many interacting variables and variations in definitions to postulate any definite claims.

I've seen many studies claiming to have the answer to exactly that problem. Studies with various levels of quality. Some are great and include links to the data that was used, the code for the calculations, the definitions that were used, a list of assumptions and references to previous work. Others are less great and involve a great deal of handwaving. In many cases, the debate - even among academics - spirals down to a "your conclusions are different than mine and therefore they must be wrong". It is the academic equivalent of two boys in the school ground comparing the size of their penis. It is pointless. I would like to make my point of view very clear:

It is repulsive that people with an academic degree apply the academic principles so poorly. It contributes to social unrest and does not help in finding a solution. I sincerely mistrust anyone who makes bold claims without the (sound) research to back it up.

In a recent PhD defence, prof. Geuvers explained once more what the rights and obligations are that come with a PhD title. Chief among the obligations is to apply and to promote academic rigor. I hope we can get back to a situation where we have a rigorous academic debate and carefully draw conclusions based on sound research, rather than make bold claims with little data to back it up. What will help is repeatable research, open data sets, open algorithms, and agreement on definitions.

Let's consider the socio-economic variables as well, then. I'll be brief:

• Given the complexity of the issue at hand, I am very happy that I'm not the one to create policy for battling the virus. Recently, Sander Hoogendoorn shared an article with priorities that resonated well with me: "Protect people, not jobs. Protect jobs, not corporations. Protect corporations, not shareholders. End of list".
• We should, in my view, err on the side of caution. Social distancing and mouth masks are a big part of that. Research may not have provided the ultimate proof that mouth masks help, but at least they help as a reminder that the pandemic is still among us. So wear the damn thing!
• I believe the Dutch government is doing everything they can to contain the virus. They have made some weird decisions (i.e. limiting the number of people who can be together in a room, regardless of how big the room is). It is our democratic duty to follow the rules as much as possible. I also believe that first line responders (especially the nurses) should be rewarded financially as they're down in the trenches doing a lot of the grunt work.
• One of the things that I find hard to digest is that our government continues to make "strong recommendations" rather than "laying down the law". There's probably good legal grounds of it, but still: the last few months have shown that we, the Dutch citizens, are not very good at following recommendations.
• The economic impact on restaurants and bars is huge. For a while, it seemed as if these establishment could remain open in a limited form. We've seen first hand that a small group of entrepreneurs ignored the regulations and as a result all establishments were closed again. Yikes. Through news papers (e.g. FD, NRC) I learned that many of these establishments have huge financial debts, operating pretty much completely on borrowed money. That is dangerous to begin with, and when a crisis like this hits, it is devastating. It looks like a big part of the sector will be wiped out.
• Some sectors are definitely fragile with regard to the Covid pandemic. Others have turned out to be robust (i.e. stay afloat through creative solutions) and some have actually flourished. For example, Sander Mak has explained at the digital architecture design day how Picnic (in the food delivery business) has flourished. At the other end of the spectrum, we see that the splintered health care system in the Netherlands is taking a serious beating, making it hard to start administering vaccines (we're well behind several other European countries).

Moving forward, I hope we beat this thing soon. The whole situation is depressing for everyone. The younger (under 25) and older (over 60) generation seems impacted the most. Having two kids and several beloved friends and family members in the 'older' category, this is hard to see. I also hope that we will move to a more antifragile society: I don't believe for a second that this is the last big virus that is coming to surprise us like Covid did.

Research & personal development

For my research, 2020 has been a good year! I kicked off the year with the publication of my book in a great event at Tilburg University. I am very proud that we had such a big turn-out to make this happen. A bit shout-out to prof Weigand for his keynote, Marco vd Winden for chairing the day, and the kind folks at 5Hart, Van Haren Publishing, Arenea, and of course my colleagues at Strategy Alliance to make this work.

I'm very proud of the big turn-out during this event and all the positive responses afterwards. Looks like several universities and applied universities (in Dutch: HBO) will be using it in their curriculum. Ideas for follow-up publications - both academic and professional - are in the making. It will take some time to bring them to fruition, so stay tuned :)

I've also been working on several articles over the summer. Two of them are almost ready. One is a case study with Marco van der Winden of PGGM (my former sponsor and collaborator) and Hans Weigand of Tilburg University. The other is an article on antifragility together with Edzo Botjes, Martin van den Berg, and Hans Mulder. We hope to submit both articles to the next CBI conference. On the back burner, I've also worked with Erik Proper and Stijn Hoppenbrouwers - hoppie for short - on several ideas that we hope to pick up in 2021. Let's finish some long-overdue projects first :)

Speaking of long overdue: the new book on DEMO by Dietz and Mulder was published this year. I read it during the first few months of the year and published an extensive review. I highly recommend reading this book. Publication of the review resulted in a good conversation with Jan and Hans in the beautiful city of Delft. The main conclusion from my side is that there are some areas where we will have to 'agree to disagree', but overall, I really loved studying this book.

I cannot say the same for the Enterprise Governance books by Hoogervorst. I've worked on the foundations book for several months. My opinion: this is unreadable, at least to me. I'm giving up for now. I'm not sure if I'll try the compendium / applied book in 2021 yet. Other works take priority.

I'm currently working on two things:

• First, Dave Snowden's new book on Cynefin. I've worked with his HBR-article for years and I'm really excited about the new book. I'm pacing myself: there is a temptation to rush through the book in one quick read, but it is more satisfactory to read a little at a time and take copious notes in my research log. So far I'm loving it. I'll probably write a review in 2021.
• Second, I'm working my way through the videos about design science that Roel Wieringa has recently posted on YouTube. Really cool to see the maestro at work.

Another highlight, of course, was the PhD defence of dr Ilona Wilmont in the middle of the Covid crisis. It was... an experience to do it in this way, with opponents ZOOMing into the defence. Once again: congratulations to the young doctor.

The last development that I should mention is the collaboration in Antwerp. This year, I taught a class at Antwerp Management School together with Erik Proper. Since then, I've had some very interesting discussions with Jan Verelst and Hans Mulder about making this a more permanent arrangement. This would also provide a solid base for my research activities in years to come. I'm very excited about this development and can't wait to see what the future has in story. Many thanks to everyone who has been part of this conversation/ has been instrumental in pushing things in the right direction.

Overall I'm happy with what I have achieved in this area. Curiosity is definitely something to be fuelled.

Work in the field

Work has been very good to me. The short version is: I have completed my project at PGGM and have moved on to new challenges at Justid, and I'm still having a lot of fun.

At PGGM, I had the pleasure to work with two teams. The architecture team of Jack Kloprogge, and the data management team of Marco van der Winden. Not so long ago, I worked with the CADM team of Santhosh Pillai at ABN AMRO, where architecture and data management are organised under the same leadership. Working with the two teams at PGGM, we also tried to find synergies as much as possible. Another key principle was to balance top-down goal-setting and support on the one hand, and enabling teams to 'do their thing with data' on the other. There's a lot more to say about that but you'll have to wait until the paper with Marco is published to hear more about it :)

It was good fun to work with the teams. Both the architecture and data management teams, and the teams in the business units. I hope and think we have contributed to laying a sound foundation that will help PGGM to turn data into value.

Moving on: I started at Justid in the middle of the Covid pandemic. It is really weird to start a new project and not be able to travel to the office to see and work with the people. In the beginning we were able to have some 1.5m / social distancing meetings but when the Covid-numbers increased, that quickly stopped.

Years ago, I did a project at Justid already around building/ improving the architecture capability. Several players are still at Justid and it is good to reconnect with them. The current project involves many topics, including innovation and data management. A big shout-out to Tom Schepers, Mariska Scherphof, Dany Venema, Leo Peereboom, and Henk Brouwer for welcoming me back at Justid. We've accomplished a lot in 2020 but secretly I'd like to think: you ain't seen nothing yet. Rock on!

Last but not least: teaching! It was somewhat limited this year. I've done several online courses about data management, and also taught architecture courses at AMS and TIAS together with my 'older brother' Erik Proper. One of the highlights on the teaching side, though, were the two projects that I did for Clark. We kicked it off with an almost one-on-one session where I worked with Becky Frieden and Aaron Horvitz on Digital Transformation. Later in the year, we did a class for a larger group of students and alumni around data management and analytics (thank you for the opportunity!).

Two things should be mentioned in this reflection. First, I was awarded the NAF penning in November 2020. This came as a big surprise. If you do not know it, the NAF penning is given to professionals who have contributed significantly to the field of architecture. Looking back at the list of people who received it before me, it is humbling to see my name on that list. Extra motivation to continue my work in this area. And, of course, to combine it with my work in data management. Recently, I joined Peter Vieveen and his team in the board of DAMA Netherlands. We have some very exciting ideas for 2021.

Conclusion

All in all, despite the Covid-pandemic, it was a good year professionally. I'm grateful for meeting so many beautiful people and to strengthen relationships with people that I worked with in the past. There was a nice balance between consultancy, research, and teaching. Wow. What a year. I hope to continue this positive trend in 2021.

Thank you for reading this all the way to the end. With two days and counting until the year is over, I wish you and your loved once all the best. See you in 2021!