Am I a “Domain Expert”?

What is a “Domain Expert” and would this type of expertise and knowledge be useful to your company? I went out to the Gulf recently to support an RFID Technology company that I have worked with in the past. They put me in touch with a large technology company in the region who were looking for a “Domain” expert in Postal Business. The term “Domain Expert” intrigued me – I had never been described as a “Domain Expert” but when I thought about it – that is exactly what I am.

Over the years I have held Commercial, Operation and Technical roles at Director level in the Postal Industry and have extensive experience of successfully delivering complex information systems. It has always been difficult to pin a “label” on exactly what I do. Although my business experience covers a number of industries lets take “postal” as an example.

On the business side of the Postal sector we talk about things like “Last Mile Solutions”, “Hybrid Products”, “Designated Postal Operators”, “Terminal Dues” and “Liberalisation” which are terms that are fully understood within the industry but Gobbledegook to an IT analyst trying to design a new application.

The IT sector talks about things like “CMMi Level 5”, “BPMN Business Process Modelling Notation”, “Client Server”, “Next Generation Networks” which is Gobbledegook to a Business Manager.

I understand both these domains intimately and can speak both “langauges” and translate between the business and the IT solution provider.

However translation in itself is not enough. A “postal” operator is looking to improve its business processes and become more competititive than the other operators in the industry. There is therefore often a need to re-engineer and improve the information processes before automating them!

This is my world. I think in terms of “logical data structures”, “entity life histories”, “Data Flow Diagrams”, “third normal form analysis” and “psuedo code”. This help me make sense of the business in information terms and allows me to understand improvement opportunities. You might be familiar with old style tools in this field like SSADM and IEW. I would never talk to Business or Technology Solutions people in this language because it would not be understood and would only confuse. However it is an excellent business langauge to use between a business analyst working for the Business and a business analyst working for the IT solution provider.

So actually I am a “Domain Engineer” and not just a “Domain Expert”. If you are looking for information solutions and your IT solution providers dont get it – why not give me a call and I will help you understand and then translate. This is the best way to avoid the type of application system disasters that are only too common these days

So I might redesign my business cards this weekend and call myself a “Domain Engineer” I would really like to hear from you and understand whether this makes sense to you ? Please let me have your views [email protected]