EA Organization

This is such a poignant post that I felt compelled to repost it here.  In a Linked in blog post by: Pallab Saha, he clearly positions why EA is a superset of IT architecture and why the two need to be kept separate.  I am re…

This is such a poignant post that I felt compelled to repost it here.  In a Linked in blog post by: Pallab Saha, he clearly positions why EA is a superset of IT architecture and why the two need to be kept separate.  I am reminded of my study of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style – the classic treatise on clarity and brevity of written expression.  Pallab nailed it in these collection of key points:

Six Reasons Why EA Should NOT be Assigned to the IT Department

6. EA ≠ IT Architecture

5. True EA leads to redistribution of authority, which is beyond CIO jurisdiction.

4. EA value proposition (i.e. standardization vs. innovation) is solely business realizable.

3. The primary goal of EA is to build coherent enterprises, not better IT systems.

2. Synthesis takes precedence over analysis.

1. EA failure is an organization failure, not an IT failure.

Working with a variety of clients on EA initiatives one begins to realize that not everyone is a fan of EA. Specifically, they are not a fan of the “a-word”. Some organizations have abused this term with creating and assigning the title to just about a…