REAL Talk With Sam Holcman

Welcome to Real Talk with Sam Holcman, where we connect ideas, innovation, and intelligent decision-making. Today’s reflection: irrational exuberance - a phrase coined by former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan in 1996 and revisited today through the lens of the AI revolution.

Greenspan’s words warned of a human tendency - collective overconfidence - when belief outpaces evidence. It describes markets, but really, it describes ...

When evaluating Enterprise Architecture (EA) or Business Architecture (BA) advice, focus on whether the person, book, website, or post can demonstrate real decisions changed, risks reduced, or value created - not just fluency in frameworks and jargon. The most dependable advisors and materials walk through concrete situations, artifacts, and outcomes, and openly acknowledge what they learned. Remember that the time you spend consum...

"One day, people will realize the DATA BELONGS TO ME" – remember that quote from the inventor of the internet and the web. We do not need larger data centers – we need better data, in an organized manner. It begins with a classification system that organizes stuff – data.  Think a library – the Dewey decimal system is the key to finding stuff – not endless building of libraries. In one study of medical databases, more than 50% of t...

Data drives Artificial Intelligence - not the other way around. It is the foundation upon which AI systems are built and the fuel that determines how powerful, accurate, and innovative they can become. The phrase “Data for AI” captures this reality: without high-quality, strategic data, AI cannot function effectively. Developing a data architecture that prioritizes data at the core unlocks agility, insight, and competitive advantag...

AI, driven by hype cycles, is disrupting and in many ways undermining the value of REAL (Realistic, Enabling, Actionable, Logical) Enterprise Architecture - turning a professional discipline into yet another fleeting trend much like previous waves of tool-centric or automation-driven approaches. Instead of enabling architectural vision, the rush to “AI everything” is exposing existing weaknesses and, for many organizations, acting ...

AI is everywhere - on every page, in every boardroom pitch, and across every trend report. But as any seasoned leader and practitioners know, what creates lasting competitive edge is not the technology buzzword of the moment. It is having an operating model that empowers smart choices, no matter what tool is in play.

In this broadcast, I want to challenge the status quo: It is not “AI-powered strategy” that drives transformation. I...

The term “prompt engineering” has become popular in recent years to describe the process of carefully designing inputs - known as prompts - for large language models (LLMs). The phrase suggests that prompting is a deliberate, technical process similar to real engineering disciplines such as civil engineering, electrical engineering, or software engineering. Yet, when examined more closely, “engineering” may not be the most accurate...

Enterprise Architectures and Business Architectures often suffer from a common problem: the outputs produced by architecture teams may be technically accurate, possibly methodologically sound, and rigorously documented - yet they remain unusable for the decision-makers, stakeholders, and business leaders who most depend on them. This issue, known as Human Consume-ability, highlights the gap between creating models and architectures...

There is always a lot that we can learn from successful technology and software developments. There is also a lot we can learn, unfortunately, from technology and software development “failures”.  In analyzing over twenty well-documented and publicized failures, one fundamental issue came through loud and clear. A major mismatch between the enterprise data representations and processes, and the vendor’s data representations and pro...