The Great Master Lea had spent a week educating acolytes on one way of doing EA. Now, at the end of the week he had taken to his favorite corner of the world and had hoped to be at full rest when a question had come his way. This was the question: “Oh Great Master Lea, what is the difference between good and bad architecture?” The great master Lea had pondered the question and then turned his head towards the sky and said: “Good architecture exist outside the control of the template that created it but still within the same context as both the template and the creator.“

Do you like your Enterprise Architecture?

Have you ever considered the possibility that you might like your Enterprise Architecture. Do you go to work with a smile on your face every day? Could it be that it means that your happy with the way things are going. Or are you dissatisfied with the current situation? Maybe it’s just an itch that you can’t really scratch. Then what is the problem, what is it that stands in your way?

Have you asked your self the right questions?

• Do we really want the EA we’ve got?
• What illustrious vision is it that could change our EA from where it is to be the key differentiator?
• How can we move our EA vision from idea to reality?

Make a list of all the positive things

Have you ever made a list of all the positive things that the EA work and the architecture has brought with it? Try to be realistic and at the same time dare to care for the results implied.

• What is good with our EA today?
• What is positively bad with our EA today? (you know it’s bad but it’s good, like principles and the way people react to them).
• Make your selves and others see the value in our EA by asking people to express the value they perceive.
• Make a top ten list of all the things people disliked before we had our EA.

Change happens, dare to evolve

Every day change happens, the scope changes, the environment changes and time races on. You have to become part of the flow so set your goals high, but not higher than could be realistically reached.

• Make your selves and others see the value in our EA by asking people to express the value they would like to see.
• Re-prioritize your efforts to match those strengths and capabilities your really possess.
• Move out of your own box and spend some time working with the non-EA folks on non-EA issues in the enterprise.

Enough is when your proud of your results

You have to know what you know and you have to know what you don’t know and you have to know what you cannot possibly know. If you know all that, then its possible to be proud in success as well as in the face of apparent failure.

• Consider the pieces that you are really pleased with and communicate those to other people.
• Don’t try to do more than can be done.
• Remember that if the stakeholders are happy with the outcome then you have done a great job no matter what.

The Great Master Lea had spent most of the day on his mountain top educating acolytes on the importance of being human. Now, late in the evening he had moved into his tree hut and he reminisced over what one of the older and wiser acolytes had said. This is what he had said: “Oh great master Lea, I suggest that we implement Enterprise Architecture as a practice in our house!” The great master Lea had looked at the acolyte and then turned his head towards the sky and said: “Like trained monkeys you attempt to implement what should be a transformation guided by reward, attitude, behavior and culture.“

The Great Master Lea had an awesome day on his sunny but slightly cold mountain top. He prepared himself to navigate the winding trails of hard labour and the master knew he would enjoy the hours to come. Crawling up the mountain side came what appeared to be a team of hockey players, but alas it was not so. Once again the Great Master had been approached by business people, this time though they had all been attending match when they realised that they had a need, an urge, a craving to ask the Great Master a question. This is what they asked: “Oh great master Lea, why is our expertly architected game strategy not actionable?” The great master Lea looked at the team then turned his head towards the sky and just as he was about to utter his words of wisdom a would be hockey manager appeared as an apparition before him. Trembling with anxiety the manager roared out an answer to the question: “THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE IT IS YOU GUYS WHO DOES NOT EXECUTE THE PLAY ACCORDINGLY TO STRATEGY!!!”.  The Great Master who was great in many ways beyond the field of Enterprise Architecture waved his hands and thus the apparition dispersed like a cloud on the computing heaven. Then he turned towards the business people looking like hockey players and said: “You have to move all of your architecture from fixed to dynamic behaviour.“

The Great Master Lea was standing on his mountain top pondering the early years of Enterprise Architecture.  Then a CEO parachuted in and asked a question. This is what he asked: “Oh great master Lea, the COO, CIO, CTO and CEA all have been at this Enterprise Architecture for at least five years now and all I can see that we get out of it is better IT. What about all the rest of the enterprise?” The great master Lea gazed at the CEO then turned his head towards the sky and said: “Enterprise Architecture in its essence is a holistic approach to understand and configure systems dynamics. You must make sure they understand that strategic, structural, cultural, and operational changes are typically made together, and they influence one another“

Less is more

Sometimes less can actually be more, it’s not that you simply get away with not doing the important things, rather it’s doing the important stuff, the stuff that really makes a difference and letting the other stuff be the fluff it was supposed to be. Is it so then that you can take something like TOGAF or Modaf and configure it in a really lean and practical way and hope to succeed in all matters of Enterprise architecture? I don’t think so, and hopefully neither do you.

How much is enough?

Enough is when you have done as little as possible but satisfied all stakeholders and feel proud of what you have achieved.

Securing your enoughness

How then can we make sure that we hit the “enough” target? First, you have to realize that there is no single way to carry you forward to all possible goals. Second, you can base your effort in any single framework you like. Third, you are dealing in change and as such things will have to adopt to change. Simply said, every engagement needs to be tailored and it  is easier to tailor some generica(Togaf, Modaf, Dodaf) you have tailored many times before.

Simple rules to guide you

1. The bigger the effort, the greater extent of the generica needed
2. The faster from idea-to-solution, the more specific the extent of the generica need to be
3. The more regulated, the greater the extent of the generica needed

You have decided and have the determination to accept the challenge to pursue an Enterprise architecture either as a consultant or as an employee, it does not matter. What matters is what you and the target organisation stand to gain for doing it? I suggest you settle down for a moment and reflect on this, then write down some answers before you continue to read.

The benefits you can hope to achieve depends on who you are, the target organisation, the collective capabilities you posses, the time and resources you are all willing to spend. Except from that it is your will to never surrender that decides whether this Enterprise architecture will be brought to fruition or left to rot in the pit of good intentions.

Aim for success

The first five steps to success are:

1. Have a clear and concise goal
2. Know what knowledge and which skills are needed to reach the goal
3. Train hard individually and as a team
4. Make it a common effort
5. Deliver on promises made

Set your ambitions high

The ultimate ambition to strive for is the answer you wrote to the question above. “What is it you stand to gain from an Enterprise Architecture?”. A part from that you can set almost any goal as long as they are achievable within reasonable time. You may choose to divide your initial goals on other dimensions like time, costs, benefits and efforts. Anyway you choose to do it is a small step towards actually achieving the goal itself.

Make sure the goals are:

1. S.M.A.R.T.E.R
2. Documented and published
3. Understood and agreed upon

Perform an effective execution

There is always many obstacles to surmount on the way to a goal worth achieving. It is not without a doubt that an effort of such a grandeur as an Enterprise architecture requires one to focus dearly on the end goal.

Since time and resources most likely will be scarce you will have to be verry effective in your execution. Planning the execution is of utmost importance and focusing each single work item on an outcome that leads you to the target is essential. Some would say that you should go Lean and Agile. I say stay focused and persist whatever may come your way. If that spells out as Lean and Agile to you then so be it.

1. Plan to succeed, revisit the plan to respond to change (have a look at the OODA loop)
2. Consistently stay focused, do not deviate lightly from the plan, the goal or the task at hand
3. Make sure each work item takes you one step closer to the goal by focusing on creating excellent architecture artifacts

The Great Master Lea was standing on his mountain top pondering the earlier years of his great grandfathers wanderings.  He remembered especially one story about three men and a task. As Master Lea focused all his brain power on this story a rather odd looking CEO led by a savvy CIO appeared from out of nowhere. The CIO with some kind of fire in his eyes asked a question. This is what he asked: “Oh great master Lea, we have been doing Enterprise Architecture for x years now and no good has come out of it. What should we do?” The great master Lea looked at the CIO and then at the CEO then turned his head towards the sky and said: “You should stop Enterprising your Architects and start Architecting your Enterprise”

In an article today at AdaptivePath Kate Discusses the Role of Design in Business with Nathan Shedroff. Specifically they address the topic of design-led innovation process. There is a trend today towards design-led innovation. I foresee a twitch in the architecture field when the emphasis on EA moves from documentation to strategy, then perhaps we will pick up the best pieces from the field of design.

http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/essays/archives/000920.php

That’s why I named my company “desiarch” short for design and architecture.