General Management Imperatives
Business Basis for The Business Agility Manifesto
by Roger T. Burlton, Ronald G. Ross & John A. Zachman1
Preface: “Business Agility” by its very name, would suggest implications far beyond
the normal dimensions of an “Agile” discussion about software development ororganization schemes. “Business Agility” envisions an ability to modify dynamicallythe concepts and structures of the business itself for maintaining relevance in thecontext of a dramatically changing, complex and uncertain operational environment.
This ability necessarily must include dynamic reconfiguration of implementations,adolescent and mature, manual and automated, new and existing, to continue business
operations as business changes are formalized. The following General Management
Imperatives are paramount for consideration and deliberate application in creating suchan agile, dynamic operating business.
I. Facilitate Business Change – Changes to the business in minimum time, withminimum cost, minimum disruption, and minimum risk of failure. (“Change”
includes market change, regulatory change, technology change, labor market
change, strategy change, etc.)
A. Business design for flexibility to support on-going business change based on
separation of independent variables (i.e. ability to change a single, unitarybusiness component without unintended consequences or impacts on otherrelated components)
B. Rapid implementations based on components purposely designed for reusein diverse implementations thereby minimizing development costs and timerequired for implementation and reducing re-work caused by deficiencies
and defects
C. Access to and analysis of a Business Knowledge-Base for predicting andmitigating impacts of proposed changes
II. Create Value – Value for Customers, Shareholders, Community, Posterity, etc.
1 Acks to Gladys S.W. Lam for input to the content and organization of the Manifesto and to Sasha Aganova forshepherding the work through to completion.
© Business Rule Solutions, LLC. 2017.
1© Process Renewal Consulting Group (2015), Inc. 2017.
© John A. Zachman, Zachman International. 2017.
Permission is granted for unlimited reproduction and distribution of this document under the following conditions:(a) The copyrights and this permission notice are clearly included. (b) The work is clearly credited to its threeauthors. (c) No part of the document, including title, content, copyrights, and permission notice, is altered, abridged
or extended in any manner.

A. Strategy development employing business ecosystem analysis (includingcompetitive analysis) for creating value especially for customers but also
considering shareholders, community, staff, posterity, etc.
B. Employment of an assemble-to-order production capability for rapidly
creating customized products/services in response to market demand
C. Access to and analysis of a Business Knowledge-Base for research andinnovation in business policies, inventories, processes, distribution networks,
responsibilities, and timing cycles, always keeping in mind stakeholders inthe business ecosystem as well as within the business itself
III. Implement Business Strategies – Ensure Business Operations Implement theBusiness’ Strategic Intentions
A. Business strategy decisions and policies explicitly recorded and interpreted toensure accurate transformation and realization of strategic intentions inpractice
B. All business changes recorded in the Business Knowledge-Base and alignedwith business strategies to ascertain impact and develop appropriate
adaptations
C. Technology and other resource developments and implementations toenforce business policy decisions and to detect policy violations in business
operations for appropriate action
IV. Provide Security – Physical and Cyber Security for People and Property
A. Analysis of internal and external role assignments and role authorizations topermit viewing, accessing, using, changing (etc.) proprietary businessknowledge or business resources including data, business processes, businessproperties (facilities, technology, etc.)
B. Physical isolation and security protection for people, intellectual property,
and other valued assets as appropriate
C. Protection against cyber-attacks and other threats to customer and otherproprietary information and knowledge for which the business has fiduciary
responsibility
V. Assure Sustainability – Sustainability in the Context of Business Ecosystem Changes
A. Continuous analysis of the external ecosystem for critical opportunities andthreats and analysis of internal strengths and weaknesses in relation to thoseopportunities and threats (SWOT)
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B. Continuous assessment of the Business Knowledge-Base to identify anddevelop appropriate investments and courses of action and to acquireappropriate resources to address SWOT
C. Continuous observation and monitoring of all Business Imperatives to ensure
conformance in practiceVI. Manage Business Risk – Risk of Loss of Money, Customers, Assets, Good Will,Credit, Compliance, etc.
A. Business design for eliminating, mitigating or avoiding materiallyuncontrolled risks including potential inconsistencies due to weaknesses inprocesses, policies and business rules
B. Removing redundancies business-wide that could lead to lack of traceability,vulnerabilities or liabilities if/when discovered by external agencies
including government, customers, plaintiffs, etc.
C. Analysis of Business Knowledge-Base to discover logic flaws orinconsistencies in business designs, to uncover their root causes, and todevelop and implement appropriate solutions or mitigations
VII. Encourage Appropriate Innovation or Control – Balance Disruption vs.
Optimization
A. Adjustment to the system of management to encourage open innovation(creativity, decentralization of design decisions) and/or to encourage
optimization (control, centralization of design authority) in the areas ofbusiness design, product and service development, business strategy andpolicies, etc.
B. Access to and analysis of the Business Knowledge-Base to identify the impactof proposed changes and development of specific plans for program
management and change assimilation
VIII. Enable Collaboration – Collaboration Internally Within the Business as well as
Externally with Other Businesses
A. Attention to extending the scope of business design to include all participants
involved in delivering the value of an extended value chain to the ultimate
customers/markets
B. Access to and analysis of the Business Knowledge-Base to identify potential
and required interactions among business units of independent responsibility
in order to assure optimal design of the entire network to supportcomplementary operations
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C. Seamless, sustainable innovation and creation of products and services byindependent, collaborating business units while preserving value forrecipients of those products and services under changing conditions
IX. Optimize Resources – Identify/Qualify Investment Alternatives and Maximize
Resource Utilization through Sharing and Reuse
A. External business ecosystem assessment and Business Knowledge-Baseanalysis to identify, qualify and quantify investment candidates that best
fulfill the goals of the business strategy and best close any performance gaps
B. Componentization and design of resources for reusability in diverse
implementations to reduce development costs, risks, redundant effort, andtime required for implementing business change
C. Establishment of the mechanisms and ability to measure, monitor and easily
adapt operational work, business rules, and supporting capabilities in nearreal-time operating conditions
X. Manage Knowledge – Manage Business Knowledge for Knowledge Advantage
A. Incremental accumulation and iterative refinement of the set of business
definitions, descriptions and rules, the business knowledge required forcommunicating and managing how the business works
B. Analyzing how the business can optimally be changed for innovation,
improvement, risk mitigation, cyber security, resource allocation, competitive
advantage, etc.
C. Understanding the impact of changes in policy, processes, business rules,
resources, and other mechanisms required to make optimal change decisions

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