How to start your Enterprise Architecture team (or any team)
Gregg Coleman
Lead Enterprise Architect | TOGAF 9 certified | AWS Solution Architect Certified
Enterprise Architecture can be as large and small as your organization wants it to be. There is no "right" or "wrong" way to do it. It all depends on the size of your organization and what your team wants to accomplish. This in itself is a hard decision, never mind the 100's of other decisions you will make for the EA practice and the organization throughout the process ( no pressure??).
So you may be asking yourself "That's great Gregg, but where do I start?". Great question! Let's get to it!
WHY HAVE A MISSION STATEMENT
A mission statement is extremely important when it comes to having a common purpose throughout the team. It should be concise and explain why you/we are doing what you do. This also creates a point of reference when you or the team thinks "Well why are we doing this?". There should be a clear link between your daily work and the mission statement. If not, you may want to evaluate what you are doing to make sure there is value add. This isn't to say that you will never do anything outside of the mission, but it should consume a larger part of your day to day activities.
?When it comes to defining your mission, it can be difficult to put it into words. This is because we have an idea of what we want to accomplish, but it isn't in a tangible form. In order to have a successful vision (in anything, not just enterprise architecture), it need to be tangible and relatable to anyone you explain it to.
Think about what you as an enterprise architecture group want to be known as? What drives this team to wake up every morning and come to work? What motivates you/them? This is what a mission statement helps you and your team have a driver that motivates them. If you do nothing else, this is it. You can have all the business goals you want, but if you don't have principle values you and your team agree on, it becomes difficult for your team(s) to feel they are providing value and appreciated in what they are doing. If there is no reason to do something, human nature is to not do it.
Think about it. Even knowing working out is good for you, how many reading this don't do it? Saying "It's good for me, so I'll do it" usually doesn't work by itself. Now if you have a mission like "In the next 2 months, I want to lose 8 lbs. and lower my blood pressure by 8 mm Hg". Or even "I want to exercise so that I can live longer to see my grandchildren". There doesn't have to be a number to it. There just needs to be a goal in mind. If there is no reason to do something, human nature is to not do it.
There is a slight issue with these examples. They are?short-term?goals. While this is good on a quarterly or yearly basis, it is not a mission statement. This is because a mission statement should rarely change.
So at this point you are probably saying, this is all well and good, how do I create one?
CREATE A MISSION STATEMENT WORTH MAKING
Ok, so now we are at the point where we want to create the vision, but where do you start? First, write down 10 words or phrases that describe your overall reason for creating the enterprise architecture practice. What are you trying to accomplish from an organizational perspective?
领英推荐
MAKE THE LIST OF AWESOMESAUCE
Ok, let's make that list. Here are a few to get you started off:
These are just a few of many. Now you want to take this list and prioritize them from 1-10 (since you have 10 items). If you have more or less, that's fine, you just adjust your priority scale. I recommend having no more than 10 though. You can make a backlog of things you want to action. This is your TOP 10 things you want to happen throughout the time of the practice. You will notice that the things I put down stay around in?perpetuity. You will always be refining processes, managing your portfolio, and aligning initiatives. If you are not doing these as an organization, then you will most likely not grow. Make sense?
DETERMINE YOUR VALUES
Next up, Values. What do you as an enterprise architecture group want to be known as throughout the organization? What features of a team drives productivity and happy people? What fosters a great team or organization? This is the next list you want to make. This will help you and your team have a common set of principle that motivates them. If you do nothing else, this is it. You can have all the business goals you want, but if you don't have principle values you and your team agree on, it becomes difficult for your team(s) to value and respect each other.?
Now the most important part, Create the?Mission Statement.?This comes down to taking each of these lists and thinking how to in as few sentences as possible tell the organization your teams purpose. With that in mind, here are a few examples:
You will notice that in all of these, there is a part of it that has the goals of the enterprise architecture practice while also sprinkling in what drives the team itself. The second part is very important and please don't forget it. Too often we spend so much time on the business goals we forget about the people aspect.
Want to learn more about Mission and value statements to keep your team strong and constantly growing? Here are a few links to get you going!