I believe management and the VHA architects understand the Zachman Framework quite well. And while it may not be used 100%, I sincerely doubt there is any kind of willful ignorance of the broad picture.
If VistA were an ecosystem it would be like Yellowstone when the wolves were removed some 70 years ago ... the culture of VistA can sometimes seem dangerous and will sometimes eat your favorite offspring (or code, rotten as it was ;). But that culture (and to a large extent the M technology that supports it so well) like the wolves of Yellowstone is crucial to the overall ecological balance. The folks who removed the wolves were by and large well meaning (it's what the surrounding culture demanded, people and property were paramount). We know better today ... and wolves are back keeping grazing animals in check, and trees and shrubs and all the flora and fauna that depend on protective cover are now beginning to thrive again. Half a dozen years ago Gartner declared that MUMPS was a dying technology. Today Gartner (different people though) recognize M as a thriving market able to work with new technologies with the best of them. A hard thing for any leader to do is admit that earlier direction they may have given wasn't entirely accurate. And even harder is to stick to one's principles when everyone around you is telling you to abandon those principles because the direction has to change due to facts. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of A. Forrey Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 3:43 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [Hardhats-members] VA Aims To Build Congress' Faith In Tech Upgrade Cameron: How do you think the "New Management" reacts to the use of the Zachman principles (otherwise known as Eanterprise Architecture Planning) that Principi mandated before he left. How can such wilful ignorance of the broad picture endure if the "management" is to respond to the CMU-SEI criticisms? Reasonable mastery of EAP would understand the state of the Technical Infrastructure unless willful ignorance prevails as it did during the Gnomes of Darkness days 25 yrs ago. On Fri, 6 May 2005, Cameron Schlehuber wrote: > That article certainly points to the risks of adding on applications to a > legacy system. And if you never change the legacy system the kind of > consequences described are inevitable. The design and culture of VistA was > to always be changing the "legacy" (after all, the minute a project is > finished and the product deployed, it becomes "legacy"). That kind of > change takes constant effort ... which means resources for things that don't > always appear on the surface to have any immediate benefit. Shut down that > culture and process and VistA ends up looking just like the problem Comair > had ... so it shouldn't really come as any surprise how new management now > feels about VistA ... the earlier decisions were self-fulfilling. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joseph > Dal Molin > Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 2:54 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Hardhats-members] VA Aims To Build Congress' Faith In Tech > Upgrade > > Here is a timely article from CIO magazine on the risk and consquences > of neglecting a mission critical system while waiting for something > better...... > > http://www.cio.com/archive/050105/comair.html > > "Bound To Fail" > The crash of a critical legacy system at Comair is a classic risk > management mistake that cost the airline $20 million and badly damaged > its reputation. > > J. > > Cameron Schlehuber wrote: >> That VistA needs to continue to undergo change should be a given. Prior > to >> a dozen years ago applications and services were retooled every few years > or >> less. That was deemed to be too "costly" for things like lab, scheduling, >> etc. CPRS continued to be retooled to some extent (but "Order > Entry/Results >> Reporting" has been stuck on "version 3" since December 1997). Halt >> retooling for most parts and they'll certainly be "old". Is there new > stuff >> in VistA? Yes, but that doesn't change the things that are indeed old. >> Much retooling could be done to considerably reduce maintenance costs and > in >> fact test the Service Oriented Architecture (M supports it well in fact) > in >> a more gradual manner that would engender far less risk than turning our >> collective backs on VistA entirely. >> >> But "based on proprietary technology"? That's a howler. >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joseph >> Dal Molin >> Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 1:50 PM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: Re: [Hardhats-members] VA Aims To Build Congress' Faith In Tech >> Upgrade >> >> "VistA is a solid system, but it's old, too expensive to maintain and >> based on proprietary technology, McFarland said. HealtheVet, he said, >> will be built on commercially available systems and therefore be able to >> interact with other platforms in the VA's inventory." >> >> This quote cannot be accurate....it might be if it was Dubya that was >> being quoted....the inaccuracies are breathtaking. Perhaps I'm getting >> too old to maintain and my reasoning is starting to fail....and >> everything I have read about VistA for the last 10 years is wrong..... >> >> J. >> >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >> >>> Taken from the National VA News Summary. >>> http://vaww.newslink.va.gov/summary/2005/05-05-05.pdf >>> TBO=Tampa Bay Online) >>> >>> TBO News, 5/4/05 >>> VA Aims To Build Congress' Faith In Tech Upgrade >>> By RICHARD LARDNER >> >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------- >> This SF.Net email is sponsored by: NEC IT Guy Games. >> Get your fingers limbered up and give it your best shot. 4 great events, 4 >> opportunities to win big! Highest score wins.NEC IT Guy Games. Play to >> win an NEC 61 plasma display. Visit http://www.necitguy.com/?r >> _______________________________________________ >> Hardhats-members mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members >> >> . >> > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.Net email is sponsored by: NEC IT Guy Games. > Get your fingers limbered up and give it your best shot. 4 great events, 4 > opportunities to win big! Highest score wins.NEC IT Guy Games. Play to > win an NEC 61 plasma display. Visit http://www.necitguy.com/?r=20 > _______________________________________________ > Hardhats-members mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.Net email is sponsored by: NEC IT Guy Games. > Get your fingers limbered up and give it your best shot. 4 great events, 4 > opportunities to win big! Highest score wins.NEC IT Guy Games. Play to > win an NEC 61 plasma display. Visit http://www.necitguy.com/?r > _______________________________________________ > Hardhats-members mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: NEC IT Guy Games. Get your fingers limbered up and give it your best shot. 4 great events, 4 opportunities to win big! Highest score wins.NEC IT Guy Games. Play to win an NEC 61 plasma display. Visit http://www.necitguy.com/?r=20 _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: NEC IT Guy Games. Get your fingers limbered up and give it your best shot. 4 great events, 4 opportunities to win big! Highest score wins.NEC IT Guy Games. 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