Future of EA as a Profession – Tim in Calgary and Michigan

I recently presented at an AOGEA chapter meeting in Michigan.  The topic they asked me to present involved my view points on the profession of Enterprise Architect.   I will also be presenting on this topic at the CEAF Meeting in Calgary on October 20, 2009. Title:  “EA Profession:  What’s Changing and What’s Not?” Enterprise Architecture … Read more

New EA Book, “Coherency Management”, is Now Available

“Coherency Management – Architecting the Enterprise for Alignment, Agility and Assurance” is a new EA book from co-editors Gary Doucet, John Goetz, Palla Saha and Scott Bernard.    It includes a chapter, contributed by Larry DeBoever, George Paras and Tim Westbrock at EAdirections, entitled “A Pragmatic Approach to Enlisting the Support of CEOs for Enterprise Architecture”.  This chapter … Read more

My Takeaways from the 23rd TOGAF Practitioners Conference

I attended the 23rd TOGAF Practitioners Conference last week in Toronto, where I was invited to speak on a panel (podcast coming soon on ZDNET) entitled “Architecture’s Scope Extends Beyond the Enterprise.” I had never been to a TOGAF event, so I was looking forward to seeing what the event would be like. I am … Read more

EA for Everybody!

EA has always been a polarizing phenomenon and remains so today. The diversity of opinions on exactly what EA is and how to approach it continues. While there are many variations, two opposing and deeply entrenched camps dominate. Despite these differing perspectives, I have rarely found an organization that couldn’t do EA once they get past their biases. This article highlights the two camps, analyzes complicating issues and offers remedies, and provides suggestions on how most organizations should proceed.

Will EA Groups disappear in 2009?

EA viability in the current economy is a hot topic these days. Just last week I was asked to respond to a statement recently read by one of our workshop attendees. It said that “Half of all EA projects will disappear this year because they can’t demonstrate business value”.

TOGAF 9.0 Released February 2, 2009

The Open Group announced the release of the latest version of The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), 9.0, during the 21st Enterprise Architecture Practitioners Conference in San Diego this week. It is available for download at http://www.opengroup.org/architecture/togaf/. During a briefing with The Open Group representatives last month, EAdirections learned about the improvements and additional components … Read more

EA-Certified: To Be or Not To Be?

We have been getting a lot of questions on the value of Enterprise Architecture (EA) certifications in the last 6 months. There seems to have been an increase in the offerings of EA certifications. Like many elements associated with EA, such as tools, frameworks, methods, continued maturation is evident. However, EAdirections generally cautions its clients … Read more