A Technical Excellence Framework for Innovative Digital Transformation Leadership
5/5
()
About this ebook
The primary purpose of this book is to provide valuable insights for digital transformational leadership empowered by technical excellence by using a pragmatic five-pillar framework. This empowering framework aims to help the reader understand the common characteristics of technical and technology leaders in a structured way. Even though there are different types of leaders in broad-spectrum engaging in digital transformations, in this book, we only concentrate on excellent technical and technology leaders having digital transformation goals to deal with technological disruptions and robust capabilities to create new revenue streams. No matter whether these leaders may hold formal executive titles or just domain specialist titles, they demonstrate vital characteristics of excellent technical leadership capabilities enabling them to lead complex and complicated digital transformation initiatives.The primary reason we need to understand technical excellence and required capabilities for digital transformational leadership in a structured context is to model their attributes and transfer the well-known characteristics to the aspiring leaders and the next generations. We can transfer our understanding of these capabilities at an individual level and apply them to our day to day activities. We can even turn them into useful habits to excel in our professional goals. Alternatively, we can pass this information to other people that we are responsible for, such as our teenagers aiming for digital leadership roles, tertiary students, mentees, and colleagues.We attempt to define the roles of strategic technical and technology leaders using a specific framework, based on innovation, simplicity, agility, collaboration, fusion and technical excellence. This framework offers a common understanding of the critical factors of the leader. The structured analysis presented in this book can be valuable to understand the contribution of technical leaders clearly. Admittedly, this book has a bias towards the positive attributes of excellent leaders on purpose. The compelling reason for this bias is to focus on the positive aspects and describe these attributes concisely in an adequate amount to grasp the topic so that these positive attributes can be reused and modelled by the aspiring leaders. As the other side of the coin is also essential for different insights, I plan to deal with the detrimental aspects of useless leaders in a separate book, perhaps under the lessons learned context considering different use cases for a different audience type. Consequently, I excluded the negative aspects of useless leaders in this book.
Dr Mehmet Yildiz
Dr Mehmet Yildiz is a Distinguished Enterprise Architect L3 certified from the Open Group. Working in the IT industry over the last 35 years leading complex enterprise projects for large corporate organisations, he recently focuses on cutting edge technology solutions, such as IoT, Blockchain, Cognitive, Cloud, Fog, and Edge Computing integration. Mehmet is a hands-on practitioner for solution architectures leading complex enterprise initiatives and an Agile champion. As an innovation evangelist in all walks of life, he is also a recognized inventor with several patents. Mehmet teaches the best architectural practices at work, mentors his colleagues, supervises doctoral students, and provides industry-level lectures to postgraduate students at several universities in Australia. You can follow and connect with the author at Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/mehmetyildiz Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/drmehmetyildiz
Read more from Dr Mehmet Yildiz
A Practical Guide for IoT Solution Architects Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Agile Business Architecture for Digital Transformation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Modern Enterprise Architecture Approach: Enterprise Architecture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Architecting Digital Transformation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Big Data for Enterprise Architects Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Architecting Big Data & Analytics Solutions - Integrated with IoT & Cloud Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Digital Intelligence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSimple & Powerful Life-Transforming Bio-Hacks: Biohacking Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Power of Digital Affiliate Marketing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to A Technical Excellence Framework for Innovative Digital Transformation Leadership
Related ebooks
77 BUILDING BLOCKS OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: THE DIGITAL CAPABILITY MODEL Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Digital Trailblazer: Essential Lessons to Jumpstart Transformation and Accelerate Your Technology Leadership Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings77 Building Blocks of Digital Transformation: Simply Explained Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An Introduction to Holistic Enterprise Architecture: Fourth Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDigital Intelligence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDigital Capability: Building Lego Like Capability Into Business Competency Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnterprise Architect’s Handbook: A Blueprint to Design and Outperform Enterprise-level IT Strategy (English Edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDIGITAL IT: 100 Q&As Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIT Operations Management A Complete Guide - 2020 Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIT Operating Model A Complete Guide - 2020 Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIT Capabilities A Complete Guide - 2019 Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSurviving Digital Transformation: From Legacy Applications to New IT Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKeeping the Digital Simple: A Handbook for Telco Digital Transformation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Digital Transformation: Evolving a digitally enabled Nigerian Public Service Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Digital Transformation: An Executive Guide to Survive and Thrive in the New Economy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Digital Transformation from the Inside Out: Work Smarter, Increase Productivity and Create a Vibrant Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDigital Transformation: A Model to Master Digital Disruption Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Digital Enterprise Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDigital Transformation at Scale: Why the Strategy Is Delivery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhy Digital Transformations Fail: The Surprising Disciplines of How to Take Off and Stay Ahead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winning in 2025: Digital and Data Transformation: The Keys to Success Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDigital Business Transformation: How Established Companies Sustain Competitive Advantage From Now to Next Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The People Problem: A Primer on Architecting the Enterprise as an Enterprise Architect Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDigital Transformation Complete Self-Assessment Guide Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Digital Transformation Best Practices A Complete Guide - 2020 Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChief Digital Officer A Complete Guide - 2019 Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings12 CIO Personas: The Digital CIO's Situational Leadership Practices Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBusiness Capability Model A Complete Guide - 2021 Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Digital Helix: Transforming Your Organization's DNA to Thrive in the Digital Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Computers For You
The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Standard Deviations: Flawed Assumptions, Tortured Data, and Other Ways to Lie with Statistics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slenderman: Online Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern Girls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Procreate for Beginners: Introduction to Procreate for Drawing and Illustrating on the iPad Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings101 Awesome Builds: Minecraft® Secrets from the World's Greatest Crafters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5SQL QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner's Guide to Managing, Analyzing, and Manipulating Data With SQL Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elon Musk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The ChatGPT Millionaire Handbook: Make Money Online With the Power of AI Technology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlan Turing: The Enigma: The Book That Inspired the Film The Imitation Game - Updated Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dark Aeon: Transhumanism and the War Against Humanity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mastering ChatGPT: 21 Prompts Templates for Effortless Writing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grokking Algorithms: An illustrated guide for programmers and other curious people Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hacking: Ultimate Beginner's Guide for Computer Hacking in 2018 and Beyond: Hacking in 2018, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Create Cpn Numbers the Right way: A Step by Step Guide to Creating cpn Numbers Legally Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5CompTIA IT Fundamentals (ITF+) Study Guide: Exam FC0-U61 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaster Builder Roblox: The Essential Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Remote/WebCam Notarization : Basic Understanding Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5CompTIA Security+ Practice Questions Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Summary of Max Tegmark's Life 3.0 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Insider's Guide to Technical Writing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ultimate Guide to Mastering Command Blocks!: Minecraft Keys to Unlocking Secret Commands Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for A Technical Excellence Framework for Innovative Digital Transformation Leadership
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
A Technical Excellence Framework for Innovative Digital Transformation Leadership - Dr Mehmet Yildiz
First Edition, August 2019
Copyright © Dr Mehmet Yildiz
Publisher: S.T.E.P.S. Publishing Australia
P.O Box 2097, Roxburgh Park, Victoria, 3064 Australia
info@stepsconsulting.com.au
Edited by Mark Longfield
––––––––
Disclaimer
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, printing, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. This book is provided for information purposes only.
Although the publisher, author, and editors have made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was accurate and correct during the publishing process, the publisher, author and editors do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions; whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other causes. Use of the information, instructions, and guidance contained in this book is at readers own risk.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction___________________________
Purpose of this book_______________________________
Audience_____________________________________________
Observations from my background_____________
Summary of Methodology________________________
Chapter 2: Fundamentals of Technical Excellence___________
Defining Technical & Technology Leaders_____
Excellence versus perfection_____________________
Tolerance to uncertainty or ambiguity_________
Emotional Intelligence_____________________________
Being Mindful_______________________________________
Personal Responsibility___________________________
Action Orientation_________________________________
Vision_________________________________________________
Social Intelligence__________________________________
Resourcefulness____________________________________
Prioritisation________________________________________
Reaching Consensus_______________________________
Effective Communicators_________________________
Quick Learners______________________________________
Quiet Achievers_____________________________________
Inspiring Others to Think_________________________
Influence_____________________________________________
Principle Centeredness____________________________
Being a Catalyst____________________________________
Self-Awareness and Self-Confidence___________
Energy________________________________________________
Dealing with Distractions_________________________
Trust and Integrity_________________________________
Transparency and Openness_____________________
Modesty and Humility_____________________________
Charisma_____________________________________________
Mindset______________________________________________
Other Pillars of Technical Leadership Framework__________
Chapter Summary and Key Points_______________
Chapter 3: Innovation_____________________________
Definition of Innovation___________________________
Innovative Thinking________________________________
Innovation Culture and Ecosystem______________
How to Ignite Innovation__________________________
Innovation as a Mindset___________________________
Blockers for Innovation___________________________
Chapter Summary and Key Points_______________
Chapter 4: Simplicity______________________________
Meaning of Simplicity_____________________________
Process Simplicity__________________________________
Service Simplicity__________________________________
Design Simplicity___________________________________
Simplicity of Specifications_______________________
Simplicity in Technical Communication________
Governance Simplicity_____________________________
The paradox of Data Simplification_____________
Simplified Presentations for Effectiveness____
Chapter Summary and Key Points_______________
Chapter 5: Agility__________________________________
How to Communicate Agility_____________________
How to Ignite and Maintain Agility______________
Pragmatic Architecture___________________________
Rapid Development________________________________
Automate As Much As Possible__________________
Remove Silos________________________________________
Manage your Backlog Effectively________________
Embrace Change____________________________________
Fail Fast______________________________________________
Cost and Revenue Relationship with Agility___
Chapter Summary and Key Points_______________
Chapter 6: Productive Collaboration & Fusion___________
Defining Collaboration____________________________
Fusion for Collaboration__________________________
How to ignite and enable collaboration________
How to maintain collaboration___________________
Magic of Collaboration____________________________
Importance of influence for Collaboration_____
Importance of Diversity for Collaboration_____
Chapter Summary and Key Points_______________
Chapter 7: Roles & Responsibilities___________
Technical Eminence________________________________
Communicators_____________________________________
Innovators and Inventors_________________________
Mentoring and Coaching__________________________
Change Catalyst____________________________________
Active Learners_____________________________________
Keeping Talent______________________________________
Building High-Performance Team_______________
Recognising Blind Spots__________________________
Focus on Measures_________________________________
Thought Leadership_______________________________
Tangible outcomes_________________________________
Background Makes Difference___________________
Chapter Summary and Key Points_______________
Chapter 8: Vital Technical Leadership Skills For Digital Transformation___________
Cloud Computing___________________________________
IoT (Internet of Things)___________________________
Big Data, Analytics & Machine Learning_______
Machine Learning & Text Analytics_____________
Cybersecurity_______________________________________
Network______________________________________________
Mobility______________________________________________
IT Service Management___________________________
Technical Governance_____________________________
Architectural and Design Skills__________________
Chapter Summary and Key Points_______________
Chapter 9: Conclusions____________________________
Chapter 1: Introduction
Purpose of this book
The primary purpose of this book is to provide valuable insights for digital transformational leadership empowered by technical excellence by using a pragmatic five-pillar framework. This empowering framework aims to help the reader understand the common characteristics of technical and technology leaders in a structured way.
Even though there are different types of leaders in broad-spectrum engaging in digital transformations, in this book, we only concentrate on excellent technical and technology leaders having digital transformation goals to deal with technological disruptions and robust capabilities to create new revenue streams. No matter whether these leaders may hold formal executive titles or just domain specialist titles, they demonstrate vital characteristics of excellent technical leadership capabilities enabling them to lead complex and complicated digital transformation initiatives.
The primary reason we need to understand technical excellence and required capabilities for digital transformational leadership in a structured context is to model their attributes and transfer the well-known characteristics to the aspiring leaders and the next generations. We can transfer our understanding of these capabilities at an individual level and apply them to our day to day activities. We can even turn them into useful habits to excel in our professional goals. Alternatively, we can pass this information to other people that we are responsible for, such as our teenagers aiming for digital leadership roles, tertiary students, mentees, and colleagues.
We attempt to define the roles of strategic technical and technology leaders using a specific framework, based on innovation, simplicity, agility, collaboration, fusion and technical excellence. This framework offers a common understanding of the critical factors of the leader. The structured analysis presented in this book can be valuable to understand the contribution of technical leaders clearly.
Admittedly, this book has a bias towards the positive attributes of excellent leaders on purpose. The compelling reason for this bias is to focus on the positive aspects and describe these attributes concisely in an adequate amount to grasp the topic so that these positive attributes can be reused and modelled by the aspiring leaders. As the other side of the coin is also essential for different insights, I plan to deal with the detrimental aspects of useless leaders in a separate book, perhaps under the lessons learned context considering different use cases for a different audience type. Consequently, I excluded the negative aspects of useless leaders in this book.
Audience
This book can be an ideal source for those who strive to become excellent technical or technology leaders aiming to lead proliferating digital transformation initiatives in these fascinating times of technology leadership. This book can guide anyone interested in understanding the characteristics and essential capabilities of excellent technical and technology leaders engaging in digital transformation programs.
This book can be of particular interest to those who hire talented technical leaders for transforming organisations. These recruiters can create a checklist of the identified characteristics and capabilities to fit into the senior digital leadership roles they try to fill in.
This book can also be useful for students studying technology leadership and want to understand the practical aspect of technical leaders and technology leadership in the digital market. As leadership is a transferable skill, this book can be of interest to anyone who wants to sharpen their digital leadership skills by reviewing the framework details.
Observations from my background
In my information technology career, over the last three decades, I worked with hundreds of technical leaders in various companies and client organisations. My engagements with these leaders helped me accumulate valuable knowledge and insights into the recognisable attributes and characteristics of these esteemed technical leaders. These technical leaders can be roles models for many of us striving for excellence. I modelled some of them for my technical leadership positions.
Some technical leaders left terrific impressions on me. I still remember those I met over 30 years ago. They were special. Something was overtly different in their leadership. These leaders touched me at a personal level from multiple aspects. Some made me feel confident to participate in their engagements hence obtained my support quickly. Some were nurturing and helped me achieve my goals effectively. Some made me think in strategic directions and got benefits of my thinking skills while they were teaching me new strategic skills. These