For an organization practicing IT-EA (IT Architecture, not True-EA) the ideal reporting location is directly to the CIO as part of the Office of the CIO. In that structure, the EA function has the widest view of all of the activities of IT and is not narrowly associated with any development or operational group. Additionally, … Read more
There are many ways to instantiate an EA Team: virtual approaches, centralized teams, with and without solutions architects, etc. Regardless of the real-world constraints, the range of possible structures does not change the main objective of the team, the roles they play, and the work that must get done. Since there are so many variations, … Read more
Choosing appropriate metrics to measure EA is challenging. We find that most practitioners, and their management, want to see “absolute” metrics, a measure yielding some sort of generally accepted min/max in the form of a quantity or percentage (e.g. 70% of all projects are reviewed). Instead, we believe metrics are used primarily to tune an … Read more
In a word, no. There are always exceptions, of course, but it is in the best interests of the organization, and of the EA Team, that the EA Team be free to make objective future state recommendations in the context of a longer-term horizon. The organization’s leadership team should then approve those recommendations through an … Read more
Simply telling a business audience all the wonderful things that EA will do for you is not enough. Light bulbs go on only when you have a chance to show them what it means to them. So, don’t try to “sell” an audience on the academic virtues of EA. Show them. Use relationships among component parts and expose mappings that they always thought existed, but never quite had a chance to see before.
In this next podcast in the “EA Rediscovered” series we will address various organizational models for Solutions Architects. Should they report directly to a centralized EA team, provisioned as needed to guide project designs? Should they report directly to development group leaders and be permanently resident in those communities? We are asked this question on an almost daily … Read more
I was recently asked to reflect on the strengths of some of the EA practitioners I have worked with over the years. They have been an inspiring group who collectively and individually were drawn to EA because they aspired to make a difference in their companies. Fulfilling that aspiration isn’t always an easy path.
One of the fundamental concepts in enterprise architecture is the creation of a Future State that holistically embodies directional guidance for decision-making. The concept is often mis-understood and seems to have recently been lost in the noisy sea of conversations about models, frameworks, digital transformation, bimodal, driving short term results, and other methodology discussions. In this podcast … Read more