You're struggling to choose the right business architecture framework for your industry. What should you do?

Choosing the right business architecture framework can be a daunting task. Some frameworks are more popular than others due to their level of maturity, adoption, and support in the industry. To choose a framework that fits your organization, consider your organizational experience with business architecture, approach to business architecture and maturity, and whether there is an industry standard business architecture framework. It is important to consider the agility of the framework as we move into more fluid environments where requirements are no longer static and time is of the essence.

Prior to selecting a business architecture framework, a thorough comprehension of the organization's strategic goals, business objectives, and challenges is imperative. Identifying the key areas where business architecture can offer critical value and aid in attaining these objectives is critical. Subsequently, establishing selection criteria encompassing factors like organizational goals, scalability, flexibility, industry relevance, ease of adoption, and compatibility with existing processes/systems is essential. This criteria serves as a basis for researching and selecting the most suitable framework, considering organizational needs and the alignment of each framework with the organization's culture, structure, and prevailing practices.

Understand the business needs to for the framework which should align with the business strategy. Perform a Stakeholder Analysis in order to decide on a Framework which dovetails with the Stakeholders outcomes. Select the framework from a broad set referencing Garner's choices, ensuring the framework can be tailored to meet the requirements and industry standards -with the ability of integration with other methodologies. Explore other business use cases to incorporate reuse. Has the business tools for supporting the adoption of the chosen framework. Conduct review of the selection and share the learnings of the journey from selection to incorporation.

Determine your industry organizational strategy drivers and objectives. What are the challenges in your industry, available industry best practices, choose architecture framework which best fits and suits your business.

We say it often, it is better to have progression over perfection in any project or change initiative. As you embark on any business architecture journey, keep in mind the purpose, enabling businesses to create value. Selecting frameworks is not easy, but success happens when we keep the focus on the traceability of courses of actions to business objectives; keep the line of sight to the motivations, the people, process and technologies and when we create a common alignment around information concepts. Value Streams, Business Capabilities, Organizations all have their place. Starting with Information concepts for any initiative creates the common vocabulary and perspective for collaboration. Seek first to understand and then carry on.

A very Architecture centric question, the obvious answer is the right one for the context and the most readily adopted such that it gains traction. More importantly it is how one extracts the business views to ensure Architects do not try to make everyone into Architects.

In the end it doesn’t matter which framework you choose, what matters is the organisation’s willingness to pay attentions to the process and act on its results. It is far more important to ensure you have a good architecture team in place than what tool they decide to use.

I agree with John's comment The real questions are Does it help? Is that understood? Does the business see it as fair represention of the company and its challenges? Just be careful, because it is easy to "follow the framework" and forget that your task is not to design perfect Architecture, but to help in business change The framework cannot dictate you what to do - if that is not appropriate to your company or just too laborious to be useful Less is more

I think its important to understand as an IT leader, two or three frameworks; even in their differences, they have core central points that guide you to organize your business in a way that makes sense, and if you have enough time (4-5 years), you can think in defining your own meta model that can adapt to your way of doing things whithout going on an oposite direction of the industry.

Exploring the options of different business architecture frameworks is part of the excitement of initiating, rebooting, rediscovering or realigning the overall enterprise architecture practice in an organization. A few things to remember when exploring frameworks: Exploring means to learn something new to you or to your organization. Take the time to learn and observe. Frameworks usually have very engaged communities of practitioners and expert practitioners. Take a guide with you. Frameworks are designed to be tailored and to be adapted. Understanding the fit for purpose in both organizational readiness and maturity is key. Like any well designed journey, make sure you are ready for the experience and bring extra shoes and snacks.

Agreed organizations are moving from “Proprietary framework” to an Industry standard. (We love to think we are unique but we are not ??). The difficult question is which is the right framework? I would say look into the completeness of framework & how extensive the adoption is. Can you use the same framework from Strategy to Execution? Does your framework ties neatly with other frameworks ? You can customize the implementation but should resist from customizing the framework.

Like trying on shoes, business architecture frameworks must fit your organization's unique needs so walk carefully in assessing each option with pilots before committing; consider comfort, support, runway you wish to walk, and where you wish to end up, then customize the right framework as your foundation.

Evaluating how well each framework fits your situation and criteria is a critical step in selecting the right business architecture framework. Using a scoring system or decision matrix can help you objectively rank the frameworks based on your preferences and priorities. Testing the frameworks on a small-scale project or pilot case can provide valuable insights into how they work in practice and their suitability for your organization. Considering the benefits, costs, risks, and trade-offs of each framework is essential for making an informed decision that aligns with your expectations and requirements.

A business architecture framework template can be a wonderful servant - but it’s a terrible master. Many of the clients I work with feel an obligation to use a framework template with little or no modification. They fear that any modification may compromise the integrity of the framework. But in reality, a framework is only helpful in as much as it aligns with your business. So, yes, use one of the many great framework templates as a starting point, but don’t stop there. Change the terminology so it is familiar and relevant to your industry and organization. Fill in any obvious gaps and leave out those things that are not suitable. In short, a framework is a great starting point - but it’s only a starting point.

Industry framework is a great starting point and provides a jumpstart but it’s important to adapt to the terminologies of the organizations. Often times the language between departments are different and establishing common language is key to success.

Reference models are just that, references. They must be adapted. Discover and try them on for size. Often, we see teams blindly following a framework as a set of rules and there is a notion of a cardinal sin being committed if they dare to make it relevant and tailored to business. Think Big, start small. Adapt, learn, and evolve. These references must be tempered with practical application and have measurable and proven impacts on the business objectives else frameworks become doctrines and not a guiding framework. Do not defend the framework, but seek to prove its value through application. Businesses evolve and so should the frameworks they use as they mature. Good mentors will advise you to favour progression over perfection.

Je partage cette approche. C’est exactement la bonne fa?on de procéder pour créer une adhésion à l’architecture d’affaires et surtout de démontrer la valeur ajoutée d’y avoir recours pour transformer l’organisation. La première étape est de faire le choix d’un framework le plus pertinent pour notre contexte organisationnel. Suivra une une bonne analyse des concepts qui y figurent pour faire la mise en correspondance avec les concepts d’affaires de notre organisation. Cette tra?abilité permettra de maintenir un lien lors de l’évolution du framework. En résultera un framework adapté à la réalité de notre modèle d’affaires, compréhensible par les parties prenantes qui en deviendront les promoteurs.

I agree fully. Take APQC as an example where the sales related processes can be tailored to reflect the CRM platform your company is using.

I would say three line items : Experimentation - Alignment - Iterative adaptation. Consider piloting one or more business architecture frameworks on a small scale to evaluate their effectiveness in addressing your organization's needs. Consider how well each business architecture framework aligns with your organization's culture, values, and operating principles. Be prepared to adapt and refine your approach based on feedback, lessons learned, and evolving business needs over time.

Throughout the whole process, always have the stakeholders in mind by performing stakeholder analysis and stakeholder engagement. It's also critical to develop a change management plan to facilitate the adoption of the new framework within the organization. This may include communication strategies, training programs, and performance metrics to track progress and measure success.

Tailor the framework to your specific context while maintaining its core principles to ensure relevance and effectiveness. It's like adjusting a recipe - you might swap ingredients to suit your taste, but you still need to follow the basic cooking instructions or risk ending up with an architectural disaster casserole.

Selecting the right business architecture framework involves several key steps: 1. Define Objectives - Identify what you aim to achieve, such as improving processes or strategic alignment. 2. Assess Maturity - Determine your organization's current capability in business architecture. 3. Research Frameworks - Explore frameworks like TOGAF, Zachman, and Business Model Canvas, noting their focuses. After Selection - Gradual Implementation: Start small and expand as you adapt. - Continuous Review: Adjust the framework based on its effectiveness in your organization. This approach helps in making an informed decision, ensuring the framework supports your strategic needs and industry requirements.