These days, what IT represents is commonly misunderstood. However, it used to be very clear: “It is the field of expertise to provide a form of automated communication between people.” Previously, it was all about automating manual administrative labor. Over time, systems were included in that communication. Business experts were trained to perform the programming of computers. Knowledge in and outside systems was still very integrated.

Gradually, technology scaled up, and more people were using computers. The number of business experts doing IT decreased over the years and the gap between business and technology increased.

Communication is key

Nowadays, some organizations seem to be in a state of confusion with regard to what IT should do for the business. One can find lively discussions about perspectives on truth, how to reflect reality in data models, or even about keeping technology relevant in a time where more data is produced daily. With the growing amount of data, more and more siloed systems require integration in order to allow the organizations to execute on well-informed sights.

"The communication is not recognized as key to being informed about data in the first place."

To specify what an IT solution needs to provide, we first need to distinguish reality from the communication need of the organization.

An example

The following depicts the reality vs. regulations vs. communication. It shows a simple example where any recreational vehicle is road-taxed as such. But, to meet the requirement of recreational vehicle, it has to meet those standards that are stated by law. However, the road tax department simply receives a checkbox on a registration form, as provided by the vehicle owner. The owner is responsible for the paperwork, and the road tax department’s only communication requirement is the “Yes/No” on the form.

Modeling Facts

In many cases, the organization needs to be reminded about the communication requirements. The IT departments without in-depth knowledge about the business tend to start interviewing the domain experts in the business about their reality, only to discover that reality is usually not what is required. By modeling the communication on data, the scope has a natural boundary for the IT projects and can be clearly stated in natural language using facts.