The Architecture of Agility

This book establishes a framework for understanding the role of a supplier operating within a business ecosystem. Suppliers typically define their operating models in terms of capturing value by meeting the demands of direct customers. Within an ecosystem the supplier has to understand how to capture indirect value by meeting the demands of indirect customers. A supplier’s ability to reduce indirect customers’ costs of alignment represents an opportunity to capture indirect value. The interdisciplinary research underlying the dissertation uses tools and methods developed by the author in support of his consulting practice. It describes the application of the framework to three cases, and analyses the value of using agile platform architectures, the architectural design choices they present, and the risks a supplier faces in their use. The dissertation informs the design of suppliers’ platforms as agile system-of-system infrastructures supporting collaborations within larger ecosystems. It has implications for the forms of leadership involved in managing such platform-based strategies, and for the economic impact such strategies can have on the larger ecosystem.