Recently we reached out to Kelly Cannon, ArchiMate® Forum Director, for The Open Group, to discuss her role, updates within her Forum and lots more. Thank you again to Kelly for her time and for giving us an explorative look into her Forum at large. Please see the full interview below:
Please can you tell us how long you have been in your role and what you enjoy most about it?
I have been supporting the ArchiMate Forum since September 2016 in the roles of Forum Coordinator, Associate Forum Director and as of March 2022, Forum Director. I enjoy the people I work with because they come from all different countries but have this one language that they deeply love and care about. Their passion for ArchiMate makes me want to do everything to help it continue to grow.
Can you describe your journey with The Open Group so far?
I have held four different titles since I started at The Open Group, and I am not sure if any other employee has had so many! I started on the Certification team back in 2015 and mentioned, I have resided in the Forum Operations team for the years following. With each position it gave me an opportunity to really see different aspects of The Open Group and the member organizations we support. Whether it’s from a back-office support function or a customer-facing leadership role.
Are there any new updates within your Forum that you can share please?
The Forum will be releasing a new version of the ArchiMate Specification in October 2022, and an update to the ArchiMate Model Exchange File Format by the end of the year. With these releases, a fresh space on the ArchiMate User Community will support the feedback received and continue to encourage the adoption, sharing, and mentoring within the practitioner community.
Have you got any exciting updates planned within your Forum?
Since we will have just issued a minor release of our specification, we will consider another minor or major release in the future. However, it is dependent on the overall community. As we did in spring of 2022, we have a dedicated Feedback Board for members and non-members to contribute suggestions to the Forum for consideration. When the Forum feels there are enough contributions to warrant a release, they will take the next steps.
Is there any advice you can give for those looking to start in the industry?
I jumped into this industry with both feet. I come from a customer relations/success background, so it was an easy transition once I had a handle on the different technologies and business structure. For someone looking to get into standards development or even a document development role, trust your subject-matter-experts.
If you could give advice to your respective self before starting in your role, what would it be?
Although this may sound cliché, I would have said: “Rome wasn’t built in a day”.
What are you most looking forward to for the year ahead?
We will be looking at adoption and usage of ArchiMate in other areas outside of Enterprise Architecture and potential verticals. We are hoping to encourage practitioners to share their use cases for publication either with The Open Group or through the ArchiMate User Community. I envision the Community space to continue growing and hopefully one day, be the go-to location for all practitioner interaction.
Ash Patel, Marketing Specialist, joined The Open Group in 2020, initially working in the Certification Team as a Certification Services Agent, before moving into the Marketing Team where he now works on digital communications, content for the staff intranet (O-Zone), SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and analytics. Ash holds a First-Class Bachelor’s Degree in Media Production (BA hons) from Coventry University and has a background in content writing, copy writing, script writing, photo editing, and video editing. He is based in the UK.