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grounding for specialized services (e.g., a reporting engine for reports).
Extending that visual, verticals are built to balance themselves upon these
horizontals. One needs to keep in mind that some recursion is involved
in such models. The verticals may themselves be structured as horizontal
and vertical within its space.
Problem Solving
Although it appears that the vertical approach may lead to optimal results
and help focus on a problem, it is quite likely that horizontal deviations
are required along the way. This is because, in real life, most systems we
deal with do not work in isolated silos and the information required for
solving a problem crosses boundaries. So while one is going deep (vertical)
in one area, one may have to make a lateral shift to deal with another
system or sub-system. For example, to buy a car, while the deepest
interaction might be with the auto dealer, one will need to work with
financial institutions (loans), government agencies (registration), or one
may wish to look up consumer research reports before closing the deal.
If each of these — dealerships, financial institutions, government agencies,
and consumer research organizations — is considered verticals in their
own right, the solution jumps between them horizontally.
This choice or necessity between horizontal and vertical (going deep)
movements is built into effective prototyping (Figure A.3). Many auto
manufacturers, for example, start by building many prototypes of their
next-generation automobiles (horizontal). They then select one or a few,
based on some criteria, and then go deeper (vertical) into it, perhaps all
the way to a production version of it.
Vertical
Horizontals can
have verticals
Verticals can have
horizontals
Horizontal
Definitions of horizontal and verticals are arbitrary. One person's horizontal
could be another person's vertical, or vice versa.
Figure A.3 Horizontal versus vertical.
 
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