The Art of Enterprise Architecture – Section Seven – Maneuvering

In work, the Chief Architect receives his instructions from the CEO.

Having allocated the people, the Chief Architect must build the team by blending and harmonizing the different elements thereof before marketing their services. After that, comes tactical maneuvering to position the team as a high performing unit within the larger organization. The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in selecting the appropriate path through the politics of change turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain. Thus, to take a long and circuitous route, after enticing the politics out of the way, to contrive to reach the goal first, shows knowledge of the artifice of DEVIATION.

Maneuvering with a well rounded team is advantageous; with an undisciplined multitude of people, most dangerous.

If you set the whole of an organization in march in order to charge down an opportunity, chances are that you will be too late. To always be on time, you must build a capability to configure an enterprise tuned to the purpose of any opportunity. With this capability known as Enterprise Architecture, we can enter into alliances because we are acquainted with the goals of our neighbors. We are fit to lead an enterprise on the march because we are familiar with the way of the business environment. We are able to turn natural advantage to our account because we make use of domain experts.

In any assignment deliberate use of dissimulation techniques will bring you success just as certain as a random practice of dissimulation techniques will bring you failure. Practicing dissimulation your choice in whether to concentrate or to divide your organization will be decided by circumstances, not known by your competition.

When you succeed in a business, let the profits be divided amongst your employees; when you capture new markets, cut it up into assignments for the benefit of the leaders.

“The Book of Architecture Management” says: On the field of business, the spoken word does not carry far enough: hence the use of phones and emails. Nor can ordinary objects be seen clearly enough: hence the use of presentations and webs. Phones and emails, presentations and webs, are means whereby the ears and eyes of the team may be focused on one particular objective. The team thus forming a single united body, it is impossible either for the team member to advance to far, or for the manager to restrain to much. This is the art of handling large masses of men. In new enterprises, then, make much use of phones and emails, and in general business, of presentations and webs, as a means of influencing the ears and eyes of your employees.

To refrain from reviewing a project whose designs are in perfect order, to refrain from changing a programme delivering the promised capabilities in order and at time:–this is the art of studying circumstances (don’t fix what works.) It is an architecture axiom to go first for the low hanging fruits. When you engage a stakeholder, leave an outlet free. Do not press too hard or you may end up with a desperate foe.

Such is the art of architecture.

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You can read Section One here: section-one-strategy

You can read Section Two here: section-two-doing-architecture

You can read Section Three here: section-three-planning-the-architecture

You can read Section Four here: section-four-tactical-dispositions

You can read Section Five here: section-five-directing-energy

You can read Section Six here: section-six-strengths-and-weaknesses

The text above is based upon the writings of Sun Tzu in the Art of War. Several translations has been read prior to writing the text above, but the most prominently used translation is the one retrieved from “http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War_(Sun)”. I consider the text above a work in progress…