XXXX-as-a-Service aaS

The context of the utility to an as-a-Service capability in IT relies heavily on where the demarcation of use resolves.

It's much easier to see it in a graphical depiction.

In general, Infrastructure and a portion of the virtualization/abstraction are what will be acted upon by nearly all use cases (if we forgo the licensing issues with respect to those things more appropriately economical on bare metal).

On top of that you'd build out the as-a-Service for Infrastructure, which at the base level is virtualization/abstraction/operating system automation and management. 

Then you walk up the technology chain, including the management of constructs necessary for applications to be automated in build / test and delivery.

The last step on the technology chain is the delivery of what should be the most important element (though even today, we've people worried about HOW the underlying physical elements are doing), the Application delivery.

Tiers of 'as-a-Service' delivery

The Internet meme vs Cynefin

Stumbling across an interesting relationship can be interesting.  Was looking at a blog by Kees van der Ent on linked.in and realized that the header graphic could be related to Cynefin.

Thanks to Dawn ONeil presentation on checkup.org.au, I was rapidly able to mock up the concept, meme to the Cynefin graphic, and it became apparent that there is a relationship.

In Cynefin, Complex Collaboration is all about "putting thoughts into words."  It has to be described to work with complexity.  Consider how absolutely wide the fields of Information Technology have become, things as simple as definitions and TLAs may not mean the same things to different technology backgrounds.

Without this specific step in the framework, it's is nearly impossible except through experimentation to achieve anything remotely close to education.

This lends itself heavily to cooperation, taking complex concepts and reducing them to something relatable.  Quite literally "what I say to other people."

Reducing disorder even further, is were understanding really takes hold.  Concepts are extracted, reduced and put in overlay or contrast in such at way that it becomes "what people actually understand."