EA Voices

Wow, it’s been 2 months since my last post. I can’t believe it’s been that long. Things have surely heated up this summer . Outside of spending some quality R&R with the family, I have been extremely busy in three…

One of the most common mistakes that people make about Enterprise Architects is the notion that we are problem solvers.  Yes, EA solves problems, but to frame EA in those terms is like saying that an ER Doctor is a bandage changer. 

To help clarify the distinction between a “problem solver” and an Enterprise Architect, I will illustrate the logical argument for both, and show their differences.

The left column is what business analysis is for.  It is what solution architecture is for.  It is NOT what Enterprise Architecture is for.  I don’t care how good you are at doing the stuff on the left.  I don’t care how well it has worked for you in the past while working as an EA.  The “raison d’être” of EA is not to solve well-understood problems.  It exists to find out why the organization hasn’t seen the obstacles that actually prevent success, hasn’t removed them,  and hasn’t figured out how to cope with them.

Five blind men describe an elephant, each in different ways.  The EA is the sixth blind man.  He listens to the other five and says “the problem is not that an elephant is like a fan or a rope or a wall… the problem is that it is standing in the living room, and dropping large amounts of waste on the floor.  Problem solvers try to find a better way to feed the elephant and remove it’s waste.  Enterprise Architects asks why everyone is standing in the same room as an elephant.

Last week I explained why embracing organizational change is important.  This week I will talk about Enterprise Architecture frameworks and whether or not they matter.
What is an Enterprise Architecture framework?
An Enterprise Architecture framewor…

Today we’re excited to welcome a new partner in Europe, Atos Germany. Atos is an international information technology services company with an annual revenue of $11.6 billion US and 76,400 employees in 47 countries. 

Atos brings experience in strategic planning, transforming and running massive IT landscapes with many moving parts and stakeholders across a multitude of functions. A shining example of this is the work that Atos has done for the past twenty years as the Worldwide IT Partner and Lead Integrator for the Olympic and Paralympic games. There are very few IT projects on Earth that require an IT services company to set up operations every two years in completely unknown territory and then deliver on an extraordinary scale under the scrutiny of the entire world.

At Troux, we are eager to join forces with such an impressive organization. Combined with Troux’s expertise in helping business leaders make more informed strategy decisions by connecting business context to IT, the new partnership will provide customers of both companies with advanced IT solutions and outsourcing services with a global reach.

Like the athletes that come from all corners of the earth to participate in the Olympic Games, IT organizations cannot stand still gaining extra weight and failing to improve efficiency and peak performance. To remain relevant, agile and lean, IT needs to continuously assess and improve how it functions and what people, processes and technology are necessary for an optimal environment.

Together with Atos, we give executives a clear line-of-sight across the entire IT landscape, to better understand which assets are needed to function at its best and to make well- informed investment and divestment decisions focused on the needs of the business. 

For more details on the Troux and Atos partnership, please visit our press room.