In both EACOE enterprise architecture and BACOE business architecture, ontology is the backbone: it tells us what kinds of things exist in the enterprise, how they relate, and how those meanings stay consistent as we automate, integrate, and apply AI.

Today, that makes ontology not just a theoretical idea, but one of the most valuable, underused skills in the AI job market – and a critical success factor for serious Enterprise Architecture and Business Architecture work.

What an Ontology Really Is: Kinds of Things Together and Their Relationships In information and computer science, an ontology is a formal description of knowledge in a domain – the kinds of things (concepts/classes) and the relationships between them. It is more than a glossary; it is a structured model of meaning that both humans and machines can use.

Welcome to Real Talk with Sam Holcman - where we stop confusing activity with progress and start talking about how businesses actually work.

Today I want to talk about something touchy in the Business Architecture world: the difference between belonging to a club and practicing a discipline. Specifically, the world of the Business Architecture Guild® and its BIZBOK® Guide on one side… and BACOE, the Business Architecture Center Of Excellence, on the other.

Business Architecture is often misunderstood and incorrectly categorized as a mere component of Enterprise Architecture. This concise exploration aims to dispel the marketing hype and provide clarity on this crucial yet frequently misinterpreted field.

There are several phases that we suggest organizations need to work though, to get to, what the organization considers is digital transformation. You sort of have a hint in this first sentence – what is the end state you desire to achieve through this effort. From that understanding, then look at business changes possibly required – especially process changes. Then go on to technology. Yes, there is a whole lot more! But this will get you started.

This Broadcast will define and describe a Framework for Business Architecture or Enterprise Architecture. From that understanding, we will provide three examples of Frameworks in other professions to provide a context as to what is needed for a Business Architecture Framework or an Enterprise Architecture Framework.

We are living in an age of endless low‑quality information and recycled self-declared “best practices.” Framework tourists. Certification logos with no delivery record. 1,600‑page manuals that need another 800 pages just to implement, and most recently, another rambling set of explanations on the explanations!

Your brain was not designed to drink from this firehose.

Critical Ignoring means fighting the instinct to “consume everything” and instead curating a very small set of sources.

Today’s Broadcast. Billions were wasted, companies bankrupted, and governments embarrassed - all because of something we take for granted: software.

This article is based on an outstanding article titled “Why Software Fails” by Robert N. Charette, in IEEE Spectrum, December 2025.

You have probably heard the old saying “software is eating the world.” But what happens when software eats itself?

We all know what makes artificial intelligence work is data. But how much do you know about the data that is being used in artificial intelligence? Whether it's a model that you obtained off of the Internet, a large language model, a small language model, or other sources. What is the quality of that particular data? Who actually owns the data? What context is the data coming from? Can you actually trust it? These and more questions are outlined in this episode of Real Talk with Sam Holcman. Stay tuned and think about these things after the broadcast, in your own context.