Aggregated enterprise architecture wisdom
There’ve been quite a few Twitter-responses to my post ‘An economics challenge for enterprise-architects‘, about a literally-fundamental flaw in present-economics, and what we as enterprise-architects could do about it. (This gets long again: sorry…) Most of the responses pose good questions, which I’ll come on to in a moment. But first, one response was so […]
So recently my buddy over at OTN Bob Rhubart asked, “What tool or tools are indispensable in your role as an architect? When faced with a new project what’s the first thing you reach for? Why?”. I instantly protested regarding the brevity of the a…
So recently my buddy over at OTN Bob Rhubart asked, “What tool or tools are indispensable in your role as an architect? When faced with a new project what’s the first thing you reach for? Why?”. I instantly protested regarding the brevity of the answers. He suggested I blog about it. So here goes.
So the Miss America answer is I “reach” for my eyes and ears. Listening to the customer’s needs and pain points is vital to ensuring a resultant architecture is in alignment with their business objectives and is attainable within their cultural milieu. I need to approach each engagement or initiative with a fresh, clean slate and record everything I hear or see. I can’t help but liken the job to that of an archeologist or crime scene investigator – especially when focusing on current state architecture.
For practical tools I look to a metamodel to determine what type of information am I trying to collect. It depends on the corporation or framework I might be working with, but the metamodel provides me a sense of completeness in what I’m looking for. Its a great way to catalog current state observations and look for trends, redundancies, and sub-optimizations. When creating a set of future state renderings, it allows me to parse out future capabilities and map them to goals, drivers, and other objectives.
So how do I track this information? I use Excel to track catalogs and matrices of the information in the metamodel. Optimally I would pump this information into a repository-based EA modeling tool like Troux, or MEGA. But not all EA programs have made the leap to these tools – many are still relying on PowerPoint/Visio (or OmniGraffle for us Mac folk). If I really need to do some extensive analysis – and its happened at least once – I’m able to export to CSV files and put them in a database and use my SQL-fu to come to an answer.
As digital as I have become with an iPhone, iPad, and MacBook, I still rely on a bound notebook for taking notes – especially during customer conversations. The linearity of (spectacular) programs like Evernote, OmniOutliner, or even MindMap Pro just doesn’t work for me during discovery sessions. The information is not in a linear outline. I need to draw arrows all over the place. I need to instantaneously switch back-and-forth between writing text notes and drawing pictures. And batteries will eventually die or the flight attendant will bust me during takeoffs and landings…
So there you go. A metamodel, Excel, and a good notebook. That’s my answer, Bob, and I’m sticking to it.
As usual, the previous post ‘The architecture of a no-money economy‘ ended up way too long and involved and ‘wordy’. Sorry… So let’s do a shorter version, in some ways going a bit deeper, but concentrating only on the issues and suggested actions. Here’s the problem: there is no way to make a possession-based economy […]
A couple of days ago I wrote an intentionally-controversial post on my Sidewise blog, saying that ‘The future of money is that it has no future‘. Was I being serious? Yes. Very serious: I really do mean it when I say that the only feasible future for money and the money-based economy is that it has […]
Recently many of my colleagues were engaged in a healthy debate of principles around enterprise architecture. As I was dwelling on this, there was a healthy discussion on what a principle should be and how should they be described, etc.&nbs…
Recently many of my colleagues were engaged in a healthy debate of principles around enterprise architecture. As I was dwelling on this, there was a healthy discussion on what a principle should be and how should they be described, etc.&nbs…
We are thrilled to announce that for the 7th consecutive year, OpenText Metastorm’s enterprise portfolio has been named as a Trend Setting Product of 2011 by KMWorld Magazine! KMWorld recognizes OpenText Metastorm for demonstrating clearly identifiable technology breakthroughs that service a full spectrum of constituencies, especially customers, while seamlessly integrating into enterprise-wide environments. This year […]
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Following on from the previous post on ‘Simplifying the Enterprise Canvas‘, a few more notes on how to use the notation, and some practical matters on modelling. Perhaps not quite as technical as some of the other recent posts, but I’ll admit that if enterprise-architectures and the like are not of much interest to you, […]
Every organization has one. For some, it can lead directly to a path of enlightenment. Others may use its rigid structure to create an impenetrable fortress of strength. For the unfortunate, it becomes an inescapable labyrinth of hopelessness. Yes, it’s the org chart. Okay, let’s be fair, it’s actually not the chart that’s the real […]
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Posted via email from Jeffrey Blake – The Enterprise Architect | Comment »
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