EA Heuristic #2: Guess, Validate, Iterate: Time-bound architectural efforts

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The spiral. Architectural efforts should use this shape as the guide, doing quick iterations that each bring the effort closer to the end goal, but never getting held back from progress by attempts for perfection.
photo credit: the pale side of insomnia

(this article is part of the series “12 Heuristics for Enterprise Architecting“)
It is very difficult to document various aspects of an organization to the lowest level of detail or even to document the high level views correctly. To begin with, people have different views of the organization so the one correct viewpoint might not exist. As such, it is important to recognize that EA artifacts are living documents and they will never be 100% accurate. 

Consequently, time-bound architectural efforts to ensure consistent progress. Guess and validate later when there is missing information. Allow for iterations to gradually refine EA artifacts.

In our EA exercise, we planned a survey early in the exercise to solicit information on stakeholder importance. The organization rejected the survey, so we created the stakeholder importance chart based on our assessment. During subsequent presentations, the organization’s executives provided inputs that helped us refine the chart. Reflecting on the incident, it would have caused us unnecessary time and grief if we did not move on but instead wait on getting that chart right first.

EA Heuristic #2: Guess, Validate, Iterate: Time-bound architectural efforts

by

The spiral. Architectural efforts should use this shape as the guide, doing quick iterations that each bring the effort closer to the end goal, but never getting held back from progress by attempts for perfection.
photo credit: the pale side of insomnia

(this article is part of the series “12 Heuristics for Enterprise Architecting“)

It is very difficult to document various aspects of an organization to the lowest level of detail or even to document the high level views correctly. To begin with, people have different views of the organization so the one correct viewpoint might not exist. As such, it is important to recognize that EA artifacts are living documents and they will never be 100% accurate. 

Consequently, time-bound architectural efforts to ensure consistent progress. Guess and validate later when there is missing information. Allow for iterations to gradually refine EA artifacts.

In our EA exercise, we planned a survey early in the exercise to solicit information on stakeholder importance. The organization rejected the survey, so we created the stakeholder importance chart based on our assessment. During subsequent presentations, the organization’s executives provided inputs that helped us refine the chart. Reflecting on the incident, it would have caused us unnecessary time and grief if we did not move on but instead wait on getting that chart right first.

Management Architects and Enterprise Architecture

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Gary Hamel’s new book, What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation, is marketed as “an impassioned plea” to “reinvent management as we know it” and “rethink the fundamental assumptions we have about capitalism, organizational life, […]

Daoism and Rocket Science

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Who is to say whether a scientific or technical discovery is accidental or planned? Historians of science often point out that there was some luck involved in Fleming’s “accidental” discovery of penicillin. But Fleming and his assistants were already a…

Daoism and Rocket Science

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Who is to say whether a scientific or technical discovery is accidental or planned? Historians of science often point out that there was some luck involved in Fleming’s “accidental” discovery of penicillin. But Fleming and his assistants were already actively searching for anti-bacterial agents, and the discovery of penicillin followed a similar path to his earlier discovery of the anti-bacterial properties of egg-white (lysozyme), so it is misleading to describe the discovery of penicillin as a complete accident.

Some historians of science now suggest that the Chinese invention of rockets was an accident. They argue that Daoist thinkers would have understood explosion as a violent response to the combination of Yin and Yang, and that they would therefore have been unable to think systematically about a reaction involving three ingredients instead of two. In other words, a given mental model or frame constrains investigation. (Unlike the Fleming example.)

Of course we must be cautious about interpreting historical Daoist thought against either a modern understanding of the chemistry of gunpowder, or even against a modern interpretation of Daoist thought. Perhaps the ancient Chinese did not see any contradiction between a three-way chemical reaction and Daoism, and that this apparent contradiction is merely a modern projection. (In other words, the modern historians perceive the past using their own mental models or frames. None of us can escape this.)

However, it is still true that mental models can constrain what we perceive, as well as how we make sense of our perceptions and act upon them, and this has important implications for innovation and organizational intelligence.

Frank H. Winter, Michael J. Neufeld, Kerrie Dougherty, Was the rocket invented or accidentally discovered? Some new observations on its origins (Acta Astronautica, Volume 77, August–September 2012, Pages 131–137) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2012.03.014

Corrinne Burns, Oops, I invented the rocket! The explosive history of serendipity (Guardian, 4 May 2012)

Questions on OrgIntelligence

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A student from the Middle East emailed me as part of his research into organizational intelligence in universities, and I sent him some brief answers.

1)   Is organizational intelligent a mental ability in the organization?

I would avoid …

Questions on OrgIntelligence

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A student from the Middle East emailed me as part of his research into organizational intelligence in universities, and I sent him some brief answers.

1)   Is organizational intelligent a mental ability in the organization?

I would avoid …

The Open Group Cannes blog series (2/6)

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During the Open Group Conference in Cannes I delivered a presentation on “Successfully implementing EA with TOGAF® and ArchiMate®”.Moreover, I joined as expert into a very interesting ‘ask the expert panel session’ with good questions from th…