When what you need most is the paddle…

Yeah, it’s been that kind of time. Trying to respond politely, professionally, as a whole-enterprise architect, to a seemingly-unending stream of people who just don’t get it. People who measure everything – including human life – in solely monetary terms. People who believe

Towards a whole-enterprise architecture standard – Summary

For a viable enterprise ­architecture [EA], now and into the future, we need frameworks, methods and tools that can support the EA discipline’s needs. This is a brief summary of the previous six-part series on proposals towards an enterprise-architecture framework and standard for whole-of-enterprise

Towards a whole-enterprise architecture standard – Worked-example

For a viable enterprise ­architecture [EA], now and into the future, we need frameworks, methods and tools that can support the EA discipline’s needs. This is a follow-on to a six-part series on proposals towards an enterprise-architecture framework and standard for whole-of-enterprise architecture: Introduction

Towards a whole-enterprise architecture standard – 6: Training

For a viable enterprise ­architecture [EA], now and into the future, we need frameworks, methods and tools that can support the EA discipline’s needs. This is Part 6 of a six-part series on proposals towards an enterprise-architecture framework and standard for whole-of-enterprise architecture: Introduction

What’s Innovation Worth?

What does an old World War II tank have to do with innovation? I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears repeating – one of benefits of having a blog is the ability to interact with and learn from people all over the world. For example, Greger Wikstrand and I have been trading blog posts on […]

Back to the OODA – Making Design Decisions

A few weeks back, in my post “Enterprise Architecture and the Business of IT”, I mentioned that I was finding myself drawn more and more toward Enterprise Architecture (EA) as a discipline, given its impact on my work as a software architect. Rather than a top-down approach, seeking to design an enterprise as a whole, […]

Towards a whole-enterprise architecture standard – 5: Practices and toolsets

For a viable enterprise ­architecture [EA], now and into the future, we need frameworks, methods and tools that can support the EA discipline’s needs. This is Part 5 of a six-part series on proposals towards an enterprise-architecture framework and standard for whole-of-enterprise architecture: Introduction

Abuse Cases – What Could Go Wrong?

Last week, in a post titled “The Flaw in All Things”, John Vincent discussed the problem of seeing “the flaw in all things”: It’s overwhelming. It’s paralyzing. I can’t finish a project because I keep finding things that could cause problems. I even mentioned this to our CTO and CEO at one point when we […]

Towards a whole-enterprise architecture standard – 4: Content

For a viable enterprise ­architecture [EA], now and into the future, we need frameworks, methods and tools that can support the EA discipline’s needs. This is Part 4 of a six-part series on proposals towards an enterprise-architecture framework and standard for whole-of-enterprise architecture: Introduction

The Ignorance of Management – Deep and Wide

While on LinkedIn a couple of weeks ago, an interesting graphic caught my eye. Titled “The Iceberg of Ignorance”, it referred to a 1989 study in which: …consultant Sidney Yoshida concluded: “Only 4% of an organization’s front line problems are known by top management, 9% are known by middle management, 74% by supervisors and 100% […]

Towards a whole-enterprise architecture standard – 3: Method

For a viable enterprise ­architecture [EA], now and into the future, we need frameworks, methods and tools that can support the EA discipline’s needs. This is Part 3 of a six-part series on proposals towards an enterprise-architecture framework and standard for whole-of-enterprise architecture: Introduction

Towards a whole-enterprise architecture standard – 2: Core

For a viable enterprise ­architecture [EA], now and into the future, we need frameworks, methods and tools that can support the EA discipline’s needs. This is Part 2 of a six-part series on proposals towards an enterprise-architecture framework and standard for whole-of-enterprise architecture: