The global skills and competency framework for the digital world

#57 Language refresh change request accepted

A general comment about refreshing the language such as using ‘cyber security’ instead of ‘security’ as well as ‘digital’ and ‘cloud’ in some places to add relevance or specifically draw in the new aaS world.

From Australian Public Sector SFIA Cyber Security and Digital Workshop Oct12:

A general comment came through about refreshing the language such as using ‘cyber security’ instead of ‘security’ as well as ‘digital’ and ‘cloud’ in some places to add relevance or specifically draw in the new aaS world.

Current status of this request: accepted

What we decided

SFIA 8 is planning to introduce guidance notes . These can be used - in part - to give examples of the application of skills.

This can help us use contemporary references at the same time as allowing the underlying skills to be unchanged.

What we changed

Skills which have been updated during SFIA7 will have refreshed the language used.

Kate McKenzie
Nov 01, 2017 10:22 PM

The language in the document as a whole to be updated to reflect current terminology as WAN an LAN to the encompassing term of network so that you do not need to keep changing to cover each technology change

Andy Thomson
Nov 21, 2017 12:54 PM

I agree. Even though most SFIA skills can be applied in a modern IT context, if the language is 'old fashioned', the framework may not be regarded as relevant.

I don't have a problem with LAN/WAN but I'm an old techie. "Network" is so much simpler and meaningful to a wider audience. Let's also review SFIA's use of the term "System", which dates back to when "Systems Analyst" was a common role.
On the other hand, SFIA mustn't slavishly follow fashion. Journalists (and managers) latch on to the latest jargon, which passes out of use in 2-3 years. E.g., "Web 2.0" was talked about a lot some years ago but is not meaningful now. The same might apply to DevOps in a couple of years' time.