Enterprise Architecture
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A Brief History of Architecture Frameworks, Methods, and Methodologies
Enterprise Architecture, like any maturing discipline, is the product of evolving ideas—each a step toward translating strategy into technology execution. Since it is still an evolving discipline, it’s a good idea to know how we got to where we are. So before defining frameworks, methods, and methodologies in the next article, let’s look at their… Continue reading
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Calm Down and See the Bigger Picture—It’s Just Architecture
I attended an EBC a few years ago at one of the big technology companies. After getting yelled at for an hour by a super-pumped guy, using his outside voice, about how the company works and its culture, we moved on to a much calmer session with a senior engineering leader. We had just heard… Continue reading
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Enterprise Architecture Measurement: A No-Nonsense Approach to Metrics and Governance
In addition to rules—which we covered in the article How Rules Translate Architectural Intent into Action—I use measures to make architecture requirements concrete. While rules state the specification, measures are used to determine effectiveness. By approaching architecture requirements this way, we gain structure with less rigidity. It gives us multiple ways to define and discuss… Continue reading
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How Rules Translate Architectural Intent into Action
In the article When Architecture Requirements Meet Organizational Politics, we discussed the need for architecture requirements and how they fit into the broader machinery of Enterprise Architecture. Now it’s time to work through what these requirements actually are and how to approach creating them. I recommend reading the article Effective Enterprise Architecture Principles, if you… Continue reading
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When Architecture Requirements Meet Organizational Politics
We started with asset management and have now worked our way through principles and policies. All of this puts us on a trajectory that leads directly to establishing architecture requirements. I prefer to structure architecture requirements as rules and measures, which we will cover in the next few articles. But there are, of course, other… Continue reading
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How Policy Integration Works in Enterprise Architecture
We covered policy integration in the post Unstoppable Enterprise Architecture. That part of our discussion was about how to structurally insert Enterprise Architecture into an organization’s policy machinery and drive value through that intervention. But we still need to address policies specifically, and we will do that now. Again, let’s have a look at how… Continue reading
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Effective Enterprise Architecture Principles: From Policy Gaps to Actionable Direction
In the post Key Steps for Effective Enterprise Architecture Programs we introduced the idea of a conventional structure for enterprise architecture methods, comprised of four parts within a hierarchy: We then focused on policy integration in the post Unstoppable Enterprise Architecture, emphasizing the value that enterprise architecture can provide in a way that’s likely not… Continue reading
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Unstoppable Enterprise Architecture
On any given day, I can scroll through my feeds and see posts about Enterprise Architecture. Most describe it as broad in scope, hard to define, and difficult to measure. Almost all will have an underlying problematic theme of trying to find and effectively show the value of Enterprise Architecture within an organization. I also… Continue reading
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Key Steps for Effective Enterprise Architecture Programs
In the post Defining Enterprise Architecture: A Practical Approach, we defined Enterprise Architecture as the discipline of aligning business strategy with the design and implementation of computer systems. We’ll call this Alignment and Focus. We’ve also established that there are three things we need to do: We’ll call that Things We Need to Do. Alignment… Continue reading
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Defining Enterprise Architecture: From Strategy to Engineered Systems
I recently reread a book on a popular Enterprise Architecture framework. I hadn’t finished it the first time because it read like watching a bad movie, in that you either leave or suffer through it, thinking it might get better. But this time I was determined to read it, and I had chosen the worse… Continue reading