Architecting the Enterprise

Introduction

In recent times I have been discussing the #enterprise #architecture practice with a couple of friends in the field and enthusiasts who want to understand what this means and how it applies to them. To be candid, it is no small feat to be #architecting the #enterprise as there are tales swinging on all directions and what most people see is the #glamour of the #enterprise #architecture title.

#Enterprisearchitecture enables alignment of #business to #technology is no small feat as it is an endless loop of continuous engagement, stakeholder engagement, empirical measurement, improvements and so on to ensure the #enterprise continues to meet her goals leveraging on #technology.

However, the discussions I have had recently has prompted me to share some tips on how to #architect the #enterprise to enable the #enterprisearchitecture practice in organisations.

1. Understand the Enterprise Architecture Role

The role of an #enterprisearchitect is majorly strategy aligning #business to #technology

I see this is quite confusing for a lot of people who's organisations are not heavy on strategy but want to practice #EA or for organisations who are not interested in #EA but have employees who think there will be some benefits to adopt #EA. The below from #scaledagile gives a simplified description on what the #enterprisearchitect does for starters.

2. Consider the Complexity of the Organization

The complexity of every #organization determines the efficacy of the #EA practice

Someone asked how to determine the complexity of their organization and my advise is to run a self assessment of the organization or get someone to run an assessment. The below tips gives a guide on how to run an assessment to determine complexity;

1. Consider the size of the Organization: The number of people in the organization is critical to the #EA practice. It helps with power mapping for stakeholder engagement, the reach of technology, the business areas and so on. The higher the head count the more the potential for high complexity.
2. The Revenue of the Organization: The revenue of the organization is critical to the #EA practice as it determines #IT #investments. Organizations with low revenue may be not have a lot of budget for #IT and as such may not have immediate need for the #EA practice but an organization with high revenue potentially will invest more in #IT and as such may be more complex.

I have seen #architects in organisations with small revenue worry about the practice of #EA

1. The Technology Landscape: The #technology #landscape of the organization determines the complexity of the organisation. Organizations with a huge technology landscape/stack are expected to be complex in the #EA practice.

3. Start Small

A lot of #enterprise #architects have this grand plan of #governance #strategy and all the buzz words in the #EA dictionary but starting small and gradually delivering #EA value provides motivation and garners support for #EA for example start at the #technology #layer or with #changemanagement or start with #ITIL if #TOGAF seems complex

What is the priority of the organization? find this and start small

4. Federate or Democratize EA

Experience has shown that centralizing the #EA practice doesn't work well on the long run as the #EA #ivory #tower always comes crashing or impacting the business agility. So the advise is to adopt #agile to immerse #EA in the #business processes to speed-up delivery.

The #EA practice that is agile puts a lot of the #EA decision process in the hands of the business teams thereby allowing spontaneity in innovation.

5. Consider Tooling

I have seen some cases where tooling the #EA practice either comes too early, too late or never considered. It is worthy of note that the #EA practice should be tooled for sustainability and best is to tool at the #level 2 maturity to ensure that the already adopted practices are further enhanced with the tools.

Conclusion

As a lot of #enterprisearchitects navigate the #EA practice in their #organizations, I encourage the #architects to implement custom made #strategies as there is no one #strategy fit all for the practice of #EA.