EA Activity Catalog

If an enterprise architecture team tries to be everything to everybody, at all possible levels of detail, at every point in time, it will fail. The attached presentation is a starting point to understand the range of activities you COULD do. The challenge is to determine which of these you CAN and SHOULD do.

EAdirections speaking at AOGEA Collaboration Event in Southfield, MI

George Paras and Tim Westbrock are scheduled to speak at the upcoming Collaboration Event sponsored by the AOGEA Michigan Chapter (Association of Open Group Enterprise Architects) on September 16, 2010 from 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, MI. The theme of the event is “Interoperability between various disciplines in an enterprise”.

Did We Forget about Adaptive EA?

Lately, I have been wondering in my dealings with clients, prospects and online forums if we have forgotten this most basic, but important goal of EA – adaptability – the ability to accommodate change quickly and easily.  Complexity and the rate of change continue to increase, but the focus of many EA groups seems to … Read more

Governance Poll – Preliminary Results

Last month, in the Who Decides? entry and in a longer FAQ article, I discussed the pros and cons of various governance models for formalizing EA standards. In particular, I made the point that the EA team should neither take it upon itself to be the final decision-making body to approve standards, nor to let it default to them. The results are both good news and not-so-good news. Plus – take our new poll on standards compliance.

Who Decides?

Do you sometimes feel that your EA standards don’t carry any weight? You create them, publish them, and then when it comes time to apply them you find yourself re-justifying the standard or even justifying the need for standards in the first place?

A Simple Test for Analyzing EA Program Effectiveness

Many EA programs we examine suffer from one problem; they are mired in the details of a few narrow problem spaces and, as a result, are not as broadly focused as they should be.  A simple narrative-based analysis can help EA teams find the right level of detail for their work.  The narrative, while deceptively simple, reveals … Read more

Winnipeg IT Architects Community – George Paras Roundtable

George Paras will join the Winnipeg IT Architects Community’s October 8th meeting to share his experiences and perspectives while leading an interactive discussion on several topics requested by the Community.  Topics will include establishing and maturing an EA practice, finding and growing enterprise architects, and key strategies to establishing and operating practical and appropriate governance … Read more