Why I've (almost) given up on Enterprise Architects.

I should start this article by saying there are friends and colleagues who write with greater depth and analysis and I love reading their musings. I tend to write based on emotion and the experiences I've had over the last twenty five or so years of Business and Technology change and fully understand I may have missed something or simply be wrong! Having said all of that I came to the conclusion a few months ago that Enterprise Architects are their own worst enemy!

I've tried to be a staunch ally of EA as a discipline. Literally for a lifetime. I've read the analyst papers, I've actually been on the courses. I've employed EA's, I've even done it myself (badly probably!) and yet I still find it hard to keep the faith. I'm talking about the body of folk who take the title Enterprise Architect. I think I've still got a little faith left in the concept of Enterprise Architecture as a discipline just less in the people who make it their job title!?

So let me acknowledge from the outset - some of the brightest people I've met call themselves EA's, They can grasp business models, relate it to technologies, define target operating models and then over a cup of tea debate the finer points of the use of verbs and nouns in Business Capability modelling. Seriously they can debate these things in forums for months, in fact ice caps have melted in the time some EA's have even agreed to differ.

...and then you put them into a board room situation (if you're brave).

Where there's ego's, tensions, politics, unreasonable shareholder expectations, impatience, and people driven by financial results ....you get the picture, and I suspect if you're reading this you know where this article is heading!

After this exposure way, way too many of them go into the poor me mode...

I've literally heard for decades the plaintive cries of..."We shouldn't be in IT", we should be in the "business" or "They don't listen to us, they don't appreciate the value we can add", "Think of us like town planners". I'm sure you can add a few more to this list.

Most recently I've seen some of the chosen few architects starting to create another "war zone" with the agile community. Using language about hierarchy and understanding the bigger picture - "not like the senior developer's" - those thicko's who can barely string a sentence together??? Humility is not always a strong feature of the self declared EA.

...and yet, and yet....

When I step back and think about some of the people who I've met who have helped influence and shape new business models, been able to helicopter from detail to vision with ease, and ultimately add real value to a business by helping to reduce the risk and costs of change, by spotting something breathtakingly obvious that everyone else missed I know that great architects can still add fantastic value, even in this fast moving, impatient, demanding, in-tolerant, inter-connected business world. They're just way to rare.

This all came to the fore very recently as at the hive network we've embarked on the next bit of our evolution and the start of creating our "Communities of Excellence" and thinking about the criteria for being invited/admitted to a community of business architects. A community that is driven by a mindset of adding commercial value and answering real world challenges swiftly and effectively, Where our clients know that if they engage with a member they're going to have practical, usable collateral, insight and deliverables that make their business better rather than a lecture on architecture from a bitter, twisted soul.

All of which lead me to share with one of the practice champions (Nathan Alchin - who gets this stuff in spades) my following thoughts on the criteria for entry. I would be delighted if other people who've employed great architects would consider adding to the list!

• Can they build strong relationships with all sorts of different people - C level to developer?
• Have they got the Emotional Intelligence to know when they haven't got a strong relationship?
• Can they EXPLAIN things in a simple and business focused way, which means they're invited to strategy discussions because people WANT them there, rather than moaning that they're billy-no-mates when the parties started?
• Can they see that they're no more or less important than anyone else in a business?
• Have they clearly demonstrated the ability to add business value?
• Do they enjoy working in multi-disciplinary teams with folks of all sorts of skill levels and competencies?
• Can they accept short term compromises with good grace?
• Can they say the word "ivory tower" in a non-ironic way?
• Can they accept that in a post apocalyptic world they're not going to be as in-demand as a carpenter, cook or farmer?

I truly want to see a community of people who "get it" who can help members of the network to get value from this discipline and restore my faith that there's life in the concept still. Is it possible!!!