Enterprise Architecture - Be Plain and Simple
An Enterprise Architect, or simply an Architect if you prefer – it really doesn′t matter – can face multiple ways of doing his/her work but, if you prefer traditional paths and long- term deliveries your job may be at risk. Let me tell you why, and how you can overcome this limitation.
Point#1 – Companies now, more than ever, demand speed – and speed comes from organization; so, to deliver this speed, you need first to organize things. Business Architecture is your tool. Understand your company′s business model and identify the weak spots, gather your business leaders and work hard on putting things right.
Point#2 – Map your applications and what can be done to either improve them or remove them from your portfolio; applications rule the business scenarios because they are faster to implement than in-house projects and in general their overall costs are smaller.
Point#3 – Sync your work with the company strategies to map your directions in terms of work; your team of domain architects must be informed of these directions, but it all starts with a general plan for the Enterprise Architecture – where we are now and where we want to go.
Point#4 – Start putting all together – business model in sync, applications maps, strategies and now the “glue” – an integration architecture and projects to put it to life. This new item will be derived into new business, application, data, security and infrastructure models. Remember to put your time and costs at reasonable levels, reuse as much as you can and provide objective, down to earth alternatives to define the new architecture to work.
Point#5 – Be straightforward – use a small quiver of tools to represent your work to the multiple audiences; Me for example, I use some old, some new tools like structured data flows, Archimate, UML models and ORM models – the simpler you show your ideas the easier to understand they will be.
What about Digital Innovation? It will be a normal consequence of the EA work because it is nothing more than adapting a business to the new world of digital convergence and it can only happen if the company is “fisically fit” to face the new world, otherwise it will be a complete waste of time and resources. The new Enterprise Architecture is extremely practical, geared towards results and fast in producing its deliverables.
My Name is Marco Aurelio Cavalcante Ribeiro and I am a Data Architect - for over 28 years - this article reflects my sole opinions and not those of my clients and employers. I am the sole responsible for all this mad stuff. I love my profession and have helped many companies around the world to find their way with clean, reliable information.