By Jacob Ukelson
When I first heard about Gartner’s take on “bi-modal” I wasn’t sure what it meant. I actually thought that it was just another way to define system risk governance for systems of records vs. systems of engagement. That makes sense to me – and I’ll get to why in a moment.
But as I read more on the subject I learned that either I misunderstood or somehow the message changed. 
It has become “slow ‘mode 1,’ responsible for traditional IT services, and fast ‘mode 2,’ which emphasizes agility and speed”, which seems to have been translated to – let your systems of record languish and focus on your systems of engagement. I agree with Jason Bloomberg’s comment that doing that is a recipe for disaster for any enterprise business.
First off – enterprise IT is becoming “multi-modal” not bi-modal – made up of Systems of Record, Systems of Engagement, Systems of Innovation and Systems of Intelligence (or what Gartner calls algorithms):
1. Systems of Innovation –changes are technically simple, have little business risk with the possibility for high reward
2. Systems of Engagement – changes are relatively complex (technically) , have medium business risk with the possibility of medium rewards
3. Systems of Record – changes are relatively complex(technically), have high risk with the possibility medium reward
4. Systems of Intelligence – changes are very complex(technically), have high risk with the possibility high reward
Read the entire article at https://businessdrivendelivery.wordpress.com/2015/11/15/why-bimodal-it-wont-work/.
