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  • Fellow of The Open Group

     Q: How long have you been involved with The Open Group?

    I have been involved with The Open Group and its predecessor, X/Open Company, continuously since 1984. I represented International Computers Ltd. (ICL) in the original unincorporated group and joined the staff of X/Open Company when it was incorporated as an independent legal entity in 1987.

    Since leaving the staff of The Open Group in 2003, I have been participating as a member.

    Q. What do you do, and how long have you been doing it?

    An obvious answer is that I am working in the area of Enterprise Architecture. I started working on IT Architecture in the late 1970s and extended into the area of business with TOGAF® 8. My primary role for the last 12 years has been as a Enterprise Architecture trainer and helping companies establish their Enterprise Architecture capability.  Recently I was elected Chair of The Open Group Architecture Forum.

    Q: Why did your organization become a member and what does your involvement look like?  What forum did your organization join?

    My employer, ICL, was a founder member of X/Open. In the last 10 years, I have represented Architecting the Enterprise in the work of the Architecture Forum.

    Q: How has membership in The Open Group benefited you, your organization and the industry at large?

    For ICL, membership in X/Open was a matter of corporate survival. As a supplier of proprietary mainframe systems, ICL was unable to attract the attention of the independent software industry. Using the Common Applications Environment (CAE), ICL and similar second tier vendors were able to build open systems-based platforms, which ensured the availability of application software. The structure of the CAE is now reflected in the TOGAF Technical Reference Model.

    Architecting the Enterprise was founded as a training and professional services company to support the emerging market of companies adopting and adapting TOGAF®. This has been a synergistic relationship. Architecting the Enterprise and similar companies helped build the TOGAF market; the growing market acceptance of TOGAF and the emergence of TOGAF certification helped grow Architecting the Enterprise business. Without The Open Group, Architecting the Enterprise would not exist.

    My involvement with hundreds of different companies adopting TOGAF has clearly showed the value of a common “language” for Enterprise Architecture.

    Q: What contributions do you hope to bring to The Open Group?

    In summer 2014, I retired from full time work for Architecting the Enterprise. While I still do a limited amount of work for that company, I am choosing to be involved in The Open Group independent of any member company. (The ability to do this is one of the privileges I enjoy as a Fellow of The Open Group, an honour granted to me in 2003 in recognition of my contribution over two decades.)

    I personally have gained immensely from my involvement with The Open Group. Now it is time to give something back. I am in a unique position of being able to act as Chair of the Architecture Forum, totally independent of the interests of any single company.

    I bring to the Forum more than a decade of experience of helping companies get started with Enterprise Architecture, together with an understanding of the operation of The Open Group and the history of the TOGAF standard.

    I have assumed the role of Chair of the Architecture Forum as a challenging time. One of my objectives is to establish a plan for the publication of the next version of the TOGAF standard.

    Q: Why is it important for other organizations to join The Open Group?

    The Open Group is at its strongest when there is balanced participation.

    ·      Balance between customers and vendors

    ·      Balance across all geographies

    Organizations need to join The Open Group to ensure that their requirements and concerns are represented.

    Q: What are your hobbies?

    I am deeply involved in swimming in the UK. I am currently Swimming Competition Manager for the South East of England. I have written specialist software for managing swimming competitions. I currently have the only software that allows swimming referees on poolside to interact with the electronic timing equipment and the meet management software via a touch screen on the side of the pool.

    For the last 25 years, I have been a very enthusiastic, if not competent, skier. I have recently started skiing again after serious illness a few years ago.  I love football (a worldwide game where people kick balls .. not to be confused with various local games which have abused the term). I have been a lifetime supporter of Birmingham City .. one day they will win something.  Last, and by no means least, I am a committed Christian and heavily involved with my local church.

    Q: What book are you currently reading?

    Storm Front by Jim Butcher. A very strange book from a series called the Dresden Files.

    The Bible. I have just embarked on a project to read the whole of the bible in one year.

    Q.  What social networks do you belong to?

    None!  The problem is that they all consume too much time.

    Biography

    Mike was one of the pioneers of TOGAF®. As Chief Technical Officer for The Open Group, he was the Technical Editor for the IEEE 1003.0 architecture standard in the late 1980s and responsible for the development of TOGAF with The Open Group until the publication of TOGAF 8.  Mike joined X/Open Company Limited (one of the predecessors of The Open Group) in 1984 from ICL, where he had a variety of roles leading up to Chief Architect for OMAC 29, ICL's flagship product for the Manufacturing Industry and Design Authority for all ICL's vertical application products.  As Chief Technical Officer in X/Open and The Open Group, Mike was responsible for technical strategy and presided over the initial standardisation of UNIX.

    On leaving The Open Group in April 2003, Mike was appointed as the first Fellow of The Open Group, in recognition of his extensive contribution to the development of Open Systems and Architecture.  Between 2003 and 2005, Mike continued to work closely with The Open Group, as Forum Director of the Messaging Forum and providing secretariat services to The Architecture Forum.  Between 2005 and 2015, Mike was Chief Technical Officer and Principal Instructor for Architecting-the-Enterprise Ltd., with specific responsibility for the development, delivery and quality of the Architecting-the-Enterprise TOGAF training business.  Between 2004 and 2011, Mike was a Lecturer in Information Systems and Enterprise Architecture at undergraduate and postgraduate level at the University of Reading.

    In 2005, Mike was given an award for Excellence in Teaching by the University of Reading.

    In 2012, Mike was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award by The Open Group.

    Mike has extensive interests outside of the world of paid employment.  He has a long-standing interest in the world of swimming, devoting a great deal of time as a volunteer to the development of the sport and officiating at events as a top-level swimming referee. He is the Swimming Competition Manager for the Amateur Swimming Association in the South-East of England.  Mike has also developed software for the management of swimming competitions