Fundamentals of Enterprise Architecture

Chapter 13. Framework to Define Enterprise Architecture Strategy

Chapter 1 shared how enterprise architecture is supposed to define the strategic north star that guides solving enterprise-wide complex problems and transformations. Enterprise architecture also defines the principles, standards, and best practices that enable all software engineering teams to deliver high-quality, resilient, cost-effective, and secure software.

Just as enterprise architecture defines the strategic north star for business and technology initiatives, enterprise architecture needs its own strategic north star to establish itself as an effective function. Dogfooding is the practice of using your own products and services to see how well they work and identify opportunities. This chapter discusses how to dogfood strategy by pulling together everything this book has covered so far into a framework to define your own enterprise architecture strategy.

Defining Enterprise Architecture Strategy

Defining the strategy for a strategic function may sound a bit meta but is really quite essential to provide enterprise architecture’s value proposition and focus efforts. Figure 13-1 illustrates a framework for defining such a strategy.

Figure 13-1. Enterprise architecture strategy framework

The enterprise architecture strategy framework has three steps:

1. Contextualize enterprise architecture.

2. Continuously improve. ...