Enterprise Architecture

Building planes in the sky

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EA is like building planes in the skyEnterprise Architects are frequently expected to deliver large-scale enterprise transformation while keeping day-to-day business fully operational! This video sums it up perfectly:

Related posts:

  1. The Top 10 M&A Fallacies and Self-Deceptions The Top 10 M&A Fallacies and Self-Deceptions is another useful article…
  2. Enterprise Transformation – Open Group Conference Enterprise Architecture as Transformation has been my focus for many…
  3. More views on Enterprise Transformation The Open Group Enterprise Transformation Conference, in April 2012 in…

Ten Ways to Kill An Enterprise Architecture Practice

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Have you seen practices that you know could kill an Enterprise Architecture practice?  I have.  A recent LinkedIn thread asked for examples, and I came up with my top ten.  I’d love to hear your additions to the list.

How to screw up an EA practice

  1. Get a senior leader to ask for EA without any idea of what he is going to get for it. If necessary, lie. Tell leaders that EA will improve their agility or reduce complexity without telling them that THEY and THEIR BUSINESS will have to change.
  2. Set no goals. Allow individual architects to find their own architecture opportunities and to do them any way they want.   Encourage cowboy architecture.
  3. Buy a tool first. Tell everyone that they need to wait for results until the tool is implemented and all the integration is complete.
  4. Get everyone trained on a “shell framework” like Zachman. Then tell your stakeholders that using the framework will provide immediate benefits.
  5. Work with stakeholders to make sure that your EA’s are involved in their processes without any clear idea of what the EA is supposed to do there. Just toss ’em in and let them float.
  6. Delete all the data from your tool. Give no one any reason why. You were just having a bad hair day.
  7. Get in front of the most senior people you can, and when you get there, tell them how badly they do strategic planning.
  8. Change your offerings every four months. Each time, only share the new set of architectural services with about 20% of your stakeholders.
  9. Create a conceptual model of the enterprise that uses terms that no one in the enterprise uses. Refer to well known business thinkers as sources. When people complain, tell them that they are wrong. Never allow aliases.
  10. Every time you touch an IT project, slow it down. Occasionally throw a fit and stop an IT project just for fun. Escalate as high as you can every time. Win your battles at all costs.

Your career will be short. 🙂

Future Technologies

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By Dave Lounsbury, The Open Group The Open Group is looking toward the future – what will happen in the next five to ten years? Those who know us think of The Open Group as being all about consensus, creating … Continue reading →

Multiple Integrated Architecture Frameworks (MIAF)

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Increasingly I’m hearing architects talking about their frustration with the popular architecture frameworks. The problem is that frameworks such as TOGAF, Zachman and others are not easy to use in a practical day-to-day way to manage enterprise architecture. Architects are not saying that TOGAF or Zachman are useless – they each document much current thinking…

Related posts:

  1. TOGAF®: “out-of-the-box” vs customization I frequently get asked whether it’s practical to use TOGAF…
  2. Architecture Is Not Optional Once again I’ve been asked: “but do we really need…
  3. 5-Years Journey Of TOGAF In China Is Just A Beginning For EA | Forrester Blogs As with many things, the potential market for EA in…

Business Model Canvas beyond startups – Part 3: Back-end

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How can we use Business Model Canvas beyond its initial intended context of commercial startups? In particular, how best can we use it to explore the ‘back-end’ of the business-models – the internal and supplier-facing parts – for non-profit organisations and government,…

What if value is in the noise?

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If thought precedes action, what idea does enterprise architecture move towards? 

The clarity of a signal lifted out of the noise? Tidy cubicles or hacker spaces?

To find a form that accommodates the mess, that that now the task of the enterprise architect.

(Apologies to Beckett).

What if value is in the noise?

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If thought precedes action, what idea does enterprise architecture move towards? 
The clarity of a signal lifted out of the noise? Tidy cubicles or hacker spaces?
To find a form that accommodates the mess, that that now the task of the enterprise arc…

Reuse is the essence of building blocks in Enterprise Architecture

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Would you want to buy a new hammer every time you need to drive a nail? You would soon end up with hundreds of hammers of all colors and sizes, when all you need is one!Similarly, when creating architecture (or solution) building blocks, a clear headed…