Fundamentals of Enterprise Architecture

Chapter 7. A Very Short Manifesto for Effective Enterprise Architecture

The first manifesto that I encountered in my career was the Agile Manifesto, when I was working in an organization that was undergoing an Agile transformation. The Agile Manifesto provided several principles that were helpful to guide the numerous decisions that were made to transition from the old way of doing things to the new, Agile way.

Similarly, I believe that the practice of enterprise architecture is also transforming, out of necessity. It is transitioning from the old way of doing things—which was marked by heavy process, governance, and potentially too much theory—to the new way of doing things, which is all about driving business outcomes through holistic problem-solving, value-added standards, and relevant strategic thinking.

In my 20+ years of working, I have experienced all sorts of architecture paradigms and seen firsthand what happens when architecture is perceived to be ineffective.

I have witnessed disdain: “I don’t know what those architects do all day.” This was from when I was on an engineering team that was lamenting about being hamstrung from being able to use newer technologies that weren’t yet approved. The team didn’t even know that there were enterprise architecture standards that were supposed to be followed, let alone an extensive approval process to add or change standards, until it ran into a brick wall trying to procure the new technology.

I have witnessed ignorance: “We didn’t ...