What I do and how I do it

What do I do, and how do I do it? What’s the nature of my work, and the methods that I use? And for that matter, why? That’s perhaps the shortest summary to a request by Anthony Draffin, in a comment to my previous post ‘Not quite bus-pass day‘: On a selfish note… It’s apparent that […]

The Art of Enterprise Architecture – Section 15 – Balance

In most architecture related works there is a framework. The framework is most often a tool to enable the architects in creating plans and drawings. Another use of the framework albeit mostly from the viewpoint of the authors is to hold the majority of ideas within a reasonable sized knowledge domain.The third and perhaps most […]

Why business-model to enterprise-architecture?

Yes, I admit it: I’ve been kinda pouring out the posts lately. Sorry…
But why all this fuss about business-models and enterprise-architecture? What’s the point about the bottom-line not being the baseline to work from? If everyone’s selling something to someone, is there really any difference between a for-profit and a non-profit business-model? And who would […]

The Art of Enterprise Architecture – Section 10 – Domains

We may distinguish six kinds of problem domains, to wit Simple; Entangling; Temporizing; Narrow; Precipitous; Location; These six are problem related principles connected with the scene. The architect who has attained a responsible post must be careful to study them. Simple problems Problems which can be easily understood by anyone is called simple. With regard […]

The Art of Enterprise Architecture – Section Nine – On the march

We come now to the question of establishing the architecture function within the organization as a whole, and observing signs of change to the architecture from the incoming demands. For this I have 28 insights to share among the five thousand insights you posses. Seek sponsorship from high places, facing the customers. Do not try […]

Taking a turn on the BMCanvas

The basic question I’m exploring visually here is “Is there another perspective to be found using the BMCanvas by Alexander Osterwalder at any orientation?” For the Architect (whatever prefix is used Business/Enterprise/IT) relating to the concept of different orientations may help in focusing the effort on the areas most important to the sponsor. The value […]

The Art of Enterprise Architecture – Section Eight – Variation in tactics

In work, the Chief Architect receives his instructions from the CEO, collects his team and focuses his resources. When in difficult situations, stay agile and work to seek out possibilities. In situations where high politics intersect, join hands with the stakeholders. Do not stay in dangerously isolated positions, remember it is not your architecture it […]

At Integrated EA conference

Spent part of this week at the Integrated Enterprise Architecture conference in London. And for me, it was a real refreshing change from the usual banks / insurance / finance / tax focus of most of what passes for ‘enterprise’-architecture these days. Instead of the (literally) imaginary world of money and information, almost all of the […]

Models as decision-records (Enterprise Canvas)

This one is mainly about enterprise-architectures, but also applies to just about any other usage of models – visual, mathematical or whatever – in pretty much any other discipline.
There’s a common perception that a model represents some kind of reality, either in the present, the past, or some intended future.
To my mind, though, it more […]

Where is the information when we need it?

We boarded the plane, settled down in our seats, to await pushback from the gate – the usual ‘hurry up and wait’ of everyday air-travel. Seemed to take a bit longer than usual, though. Strange clonks and thumps from beneath my seat, down below in the cargo bay. We wait, and we wait.
[I won’t name […]