Semantech's Approach to Methodology

Most consulting companies expend a good deal of effort highlighting their unique methodologies or adherence to industry-wide paradigms, but what does this really mean to you the client? Is one methodology more likely to succeed than another – does a company need to have a methodology at all in order to provide their solutions? The buzz about methodology in IT is seldom followed up with pragmatic explanations as to why certain approaches are used in certain situations. One thing we've learned over the years is that there isn't one approach that fits every situation. When we founded Semantech, we dedicated a significant amount of our start-up effort in determining which types of methodologies we would employ to support our preferred solutions.

Each of our Enterprise Solutions is anchored by one of our specially developed methodologies

Our view of what a methodology should look like and how it should behave is perhaps different from how other integrators might view it. For us, a successful methodology must possess the following qualities:

It must be flexible – the underlying processes must be able to accommodate a variety of scenarios without major rework. In other words, each application of the methodology is customized, but not rebuilt from scratch.
It must be automated – without the ability for all of the pertinent participants to access the shared data underlying the methodology, the processes will not achieve their expected efficiency.
It must provide predefined resources – while all of these can of course be customized, one of the best ways to ensure repeatable processes is the availability of resource templates.
It must be focused on the ends and not the means – any methodology that bends an organization to serve it rather than serving the organization is doomed to fail. This happens not merely due to how a methodology is constructed but more due to the application and perception of it by those charged with managing it.

Methodology, Deconstructed

So what exactly goes into a methodology? A methodology is generally considered to be a set of repeatable, predictable processes that are often combined with the use of best practice techniques to support unique scenarios or specific implementation expectations. The types of generic processes utilized across most methodologies include the following:

Requirements Management
Change & Configuration Management
Project or Portfolio Management
Risk Management
Governance
Earned Value Management

Types of Best practices that could be used might include:

Use of Object Oriented techniques
Utilization of Enterprise Architecture in solution design through execution
Use of Ontologies and / or Master Data Management
Utilization of standardized code commenting and documentation
Use of SOA infrastructure and / or service design techniques
Utilization of COTS-based solutions
Focus on Human Factors throughout design & implementation

Strategic Lifecycle Management

Semantech has built a unique methodology to address strategy in its own context. It is designed to blend in with our larger enterprise solution methodology, PLM, but it is meant to provide an extra layer of depth to strategy that might not otherwise be addressed in a typical project methodology.

The primary reason we decided to treat strategy differently was due to the creative or subjective elements involved in strategy development. While technology can facilitate creativity, creativity is not dependent on or perhaps even cognizant of technology.

Thus, our Strategic Lifecycle Management methodology is a very humanistic approach - one that compensates for the dynamic interaction of ideas and politics.

Program Lifecycle Management (PLM)

Program Lifecycle Management (PLM), is the new umbrella concept and acronym for 3 other PLM's:

Project Lifecycle Management
Portfolio Lifecycle Management
Product Lifecycle Management

Semantech has pioneered the PLM methodology to address integration at the program office level. We realized that before an organization can integrate its systems, it must first integrate itself.

This meta-integration engine runs on process fusion, driving the rest of lifecycle without running on empty. Read More »

Agile Internet Convergence

For more than 7 years we've been waiting to reach critical mass. The nexus of high speed Internet access, exponentially increasing processor power and data storage capability and the cultural adaptation to IP delivery - it's happened, we're finally here.

We now have the ability for a majority of the economic middle class world-wide to experience rich media, or more precisely converged media over the Internet. This includes the exploitation of IP telephony, convergence of traditional cable TV to IP and more.

The key to harnessing Internet convergence is an understanding of what content will be; not what it has been. The next generation of content doesn't have an accurate buzzword to describe it - it will be the blending of all previous forms of communication and the addition of a few new ones.

We designed our Agile Internet Convergence methodology with these factors in mind. With experience in print, television, enterprise networking and telephony we can help guide you through convergence transformation.

The methodology is agile in part because it is mainly focused around management of unstructured data / content and the constant struggle to reduce development and delivery costs while maintaining quality.