Roger Evernden - a brief autobiography

I'm not a software developer - more an inventor and innovator, working with information, rather than technology. I come up with big ideas that challenge the norm and make a big difference in the world. I've been called a business thinker, futurist, innovator, and strategist, and "one of the foremost experts on organisational information", using information to create inspiration and innovation.

Born in Southampton in 1953, I studied history and graduated from the University of Lancaster in 1975. I was fascinated by how people try to understand the complexity of life on this planet by gathering and organizing information.

In 1980 I joined a team to computerise the Land Registry, one of the earliest large-scale development projects to use structured design methodologies. By studying the process of documenting requirements and the communications between users, analysts and designers, I discovered critical weaknesses in how well needs were translated into software. Based on this research I developed tools and techniques that made significant improvements to requirements gathering.

During the 1980s I was actively involved in the research and development community that introduced information architecture, component reuse, and object oriented modelling techniques. Through this work, I became an advisor to Westpac Banking Corporation's data resource management team in 1986, developing a set of tools to help them develop their Enterprise Business Model. This model was widely considered to be the most advanced development of this type in the world.

In 1988 Westpac invited me back to Australia as a member of their research & development group, reporting directly to the Board of Directors on an innovative project that pioneered business agility and flexible information systems. The need for flexibility is critical in the information economy where change is rapid and customer and market needs are difficult to predict. Westpac is widely recognised as the prototype for a sense-respond organisation, using information modelling as a foundation to implement organisational adaptability.

IBM recognised the ground-breaking value of the core technology and capabilities from this project when it bought the intellectual assets for an undisclosed sum in 1990.

In 1990 I lived in the USA providing executive education and skill transfer from this project within IBM and to financial institutions in the USA and Canada.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s I created and developed the Information FrameWork (IFW) - a detailed information architecture and development blueprint exclusively adopted and used by IBM. It remains the foundation of IBM's strategic products and offerings in the financial services sector . The concepts of Information FrameWork (IFW) and the products based on this ground-breaking foundation have been used extensively by more than 400 financial institutions world-wide, producing well-documented business and technical benefits. IBM's prestigious Systems Journal published my article - Information FrameWork - in 1996, which remains the seminal work on this subject.

Between 1991 and 1996 I gave more than 300 presentations and seminars to senior executives at financial institutions around the world on behalf of IBM, including keynote presentations at the annual Information FrameWork conference and the bi-annual CLAB conference in Latin America.

I was privileged to be the only non-IBMer in IBM's influential cross-industry information planning and business architecture think-tank, contributing to significant advances in the insurance, retail, logistics, and other industry sectors. During this period I ran regular workshops on this topic at IBM's Advanced Business Institute at Palisades, USA.

Since 1995 I have worked as an independent authority and advisor on the effective use of corporate information and continue to develop pioneering techniques and tools. I contributed the influential chapter on Managing the Knowledge Scape to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) book on Knowledge Management (1996). A further landmark article, Third Generation Information Architecture, was published in Communications of the ACM in 2003.

In September 2003 Butterworth Heinemann published my book: Information First: Integrating Knowledge with Information Architecture for Business Advantage.

I have developed an impressive array of artefacts and techniques to improve use of information. Some of the more well known tools or techniques include Information FrameWork (IFW), Managing the Knowledge Scape, Return From Information (RFI), and a set of fundamental information management tools popularly known as the Evernden Eight.

Testimonials:

People don't like to recommend anything that is second rate, do they? Personal recommendations speak volumes - so here is what some of my clients have to say:

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"The Information FrameWork, in which resides all our data, function, process and workflow models, together with its inherent methodology, was constructed for us by Roger Evernden. Roger has been associated with us since 1990 and has been the prime driver of our approaches to the management of information. During this time he has published extensively, including in the IBM Systems Journal."

John Dermody, Solutions Centre Manager, IBM Banking Solution Centre, Dublin

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"A supreme strategist - Roger can both explain the principles and deliver practical action plans."

Chief Information Officer, UK Building Society

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"The richness and structure of the generic information in the Information Model helped us to quickly develop our Key Indicators and their associated dimensions and the final deliverable will underpin our Performance Management process and developments to our data warehouse"

Neil Phillips, Head of the Enterprise Modelling Team, Barclays Bank

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"Reduced complex issues to simple and practical solutions."

"Excellent presentation and content."

"Well worth the time spent."

"Very responsive to questions - questions are always answered clearly."

"Superb transfer of skills and understanding to our staff."

"A lot of good practical starter-kit advice and guidelines."

"Very knowledgeable - an excellent speaker."

Comments from workshop attendees

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