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World Class EA

August 20, 2017 Leave a Comment

World Class EA Series: Put TOGAF to Practical Work

Practitioners' Approach to Developing Enterprise Architecture following the TOGAF ADMTOGAF works when an EA Team designer approaches it as necessary scaffolding. Which I Do. Sadly, today using TOGAF requires reading past specifics. Specifics that have snuck in where a concept should be, or context-free advice that masquerades as the universal practice.

Today, it is easy to get distracted from the scaffolding hiding behind specific commentary and not see yourself.

Giving Back Conexiam’s Real World Enterprise Architecture

We leverage free Open standards, TOGAF, IT4IT, etc.
We use them to accelerate our work.

We deliberately give back. We have a long history of participating in Open Standards development. Over the past year Conexiam’s core intellectual property team pulled a consistent set of advice from our practice. Scouring our toolkit, Navigate, EA with TOGAF and Navigate training, Pilot, and Predictable EA for guidance that wasn’t dependent upon using our approach.

Leader's Approach to Establishing and Evolving an EA CapabilityWe saw four essential challenges needing consistent guidance:

  1. configuring your EA team, Leader’s Guide
  2. developing and using enterprise architecture for purpose, Practitioners’ guide
  3. governing creation of architecture and the implementation that are guided and constrained, Governors’ guide
  4. assembling disparate standards and reference tools, Digital Transformation: Strategy to Implementation

Conexiam addresses the imperative problems every EA Team faces

We donated the work to the Open Group. Following peer review the Leader’s Guide, Practitioners’ guide and Governors’ guide were published as peer reviewed papers. Today they are in the process of more substantive peer reviews and consensus necessary to become TOGAF Series Guides, representing official best-practice guidance on putting TOGAF to work.

This guidance is designed for a mainstream community commercial organizations. You need to do some mental mapping for it to work in public sector and defense.

TOGAF is an enterprise architecture framework not a cookbook

TOGAF isn’t a cookbook. It’s a framework. It should be used as a framework of essential concepts. It needs to be used by an architect.

Governor's Approach to Developing and Exercising an Enterpise Architecture Governance CapabilityThere is not a single EA team that doesn’t use the essential universal framework. Not a team that doesn’t use the concepts. Whether they know or not. Or whether they care. Same thing as your industry value chain, or process classification framework. Your organization can use available tools to make hard configuration choices. Or not.

This point is important: everyone uses the same concepts. Not the same technique, not the same template, not the same process. Not the same configuration. Just the same concept.

Deliberately Configure Enterprise Architecture Teams

Ideally, the EA team uses TOGAF’s concept deliberately configured to their circumstances. Or, they can be oblivious and have an accidental design. I never get over the dissonance of seeing EA teams with accidental un-optimized designs. Have never seen a high-functioning team with an accidental design. Not once.

In the past, the problem we faced drafting TOGAF was the monolithic document structure. There wasn’t anyplace else to put guidance, or specific technique. Stuff just got stuffed in, here & there. It was useful. Probably.

TOGAF Journey to a Lean Framework

Today TOGAF is a fat framework. Published as a monolithic document that simultaneously tries to address enterprise architects, designers of EA Team and governors, and consumers of architecture. It is replete with random advice tucked into the middle of essential concepts.

We started our journey to converting  TOGAF to a lean framework with the SOA/TOGAF practical guide. Drafting this guide was delayed as the team learned to read past the obscuring specifics and focus on the scaffolding. It was painful. The same problem with the SABSA/ TOGAF integration paper. Less painful.

I started to see the essential scaffolding more clearly. We took that vision of essential scaffolding to heart. Using it as our starting point we optimized Conexiam’s Enterprise Architecture toolkit:

  • configured framework, Navigate™,
  • practical training EA with TOGAF® and Navigate™,
  • governance approach, Pilot™.

Digital Transformation: Strategy to Implementation using Open Group StandardsConexiam’s partners worked together on a few projects hone our understanding. In this work we split Navigate into a universal core and specialized purposeful Navigate Atlases. We developed Predictable Enterprise Architecture™.

We tested using a TOGAF lean framework with add-on guidance with several EA Capability engagements.

Damn it works. Accelerates EA teams like a Saturn V.

TOGAF Series Guides

This is how open standards are developed. Organizations with vanguard knowledge share with their peers. We put our thinking out to be examined and improved by peers. Other Architecture Forum members have been working on similar efforts. The example TRM (Technical Reference Model), III-RM (Integrated Infrastructure Information Reference Model) and TOGAF Business scenarios techniques have been pulled out and published as separate “TOGAF Series” documents.

Frankly, I’m sorry we didn’t get further with TOGAF 9.1. While I’m proud we pulled 200 pages of chaff out of TOGAF with the TOGAF 9.1 upgrade there is a long way to go. Conexiam’s team felt it was more useful to put our energy into guidance (World Class papers, the Agile Enterprise Architecture case study with CSC), to help people read past the chaff.

Without a strong body of guidance there was no place else to put useful stuff. We now have a place to put useful stuff.

Useful stuff put together into consistent guidance, and specialization. Without a good home, we all inadvertently turn useful stuff into chaff. Specialization and specific guidance gets tucked into the standard. Specialization is not universal. Inconsistent random guidance without the backstory and context is chaff.

Hopefully, in the future there will be less chaff in the standard. Less distractions from essential concepts. Less noise that thoughtful practitioners have to read past to see themselves and see the essential concepts.

Conexiam’s Next Steps: Sharing More Specific Enterprise Architecture Expertise

The Enterprise Architecture community has more useful guidance on how to use the TOGAF standard than at any point in time. We still have a gap. As my direct team point out, the Leader’s Guide was written for a senior leader, comfortable translating abstract management concepts into practice. Right to my face: ‘Dave, you were writing to yourself.’ Their examples:

  • how do you use the econometric model the Leader’s Guide speaks about?
    I thought it was obvious. Now I know it isn’t.
  • how do you design a set of concerns and match them with necessary minimum architecture description like The Leader’s Guide advises?
    We donated the Navigate Viewpoint/Concern starting point from our EA Capability Atlas, and posted  developing a viewpoint library, and a sample Viewpoint Library.
    It is the exact table I use. What more do you need? Now I know, you want to know how to identify mandatory concerns, key stakeholders and how to represent candidates in terms of concerns.

Our next step is more direct situation specific guidance. We’re going to provide it in three ways:

  1. publishing more pieces of our toolkit.
    Sometimes as snippets, like Essential Enterprise Architecture Governance, which was expanded in the Governors’ guide.
    More snippets include our Agile & EA use cases, which are briefly referenced in the CSC agile enterprise architecture case study.
    Sometimes as free versions of our hands-on training. This spring we provided a free version of our EA and Governance , Risk and Compliance (EA & GRC) course. Go ahead, take it.
  2. donating more specific guidance documents,
    This includes a Public Sector initiative customization of the Leader’s Guide.
    We are working on a version of the Practitioners’ guide specifically written for new architects.
  3. highlighting crash & burns stories in the Enterprise Architecture Graveyard .
    We all know too many EA teams are low functioning. Literally hanging on by their fingernails. If you see these practices, stop! Stop now! Do your part to professionalize enterprise architecture.

Your Next Steps

If you are in a hurry to get useful architecture-driven change,
  • engage Conexiam with a Pilot governance project and series of Predictable EA Sprints
If you want to develop your team,
  • engage Conexiam to perform an EA Capability Workshop, levering the Navigate EA Capability Atlas
  • engage Conexiam with a Predictable Enterprise Architecture engagement and a supporting Pilot engagement
If you are on a budget,
  • engage our training program, EA with TOGAF and Navigate,
  • backed by TOGAF, the video to support TOGAF Certification.
If you prefer DIY EA Capability development
  • Sign up for our newsletter
  • Download the World Class Enterprise Architecture series
  • Read the Architecture Graveyard series
  • Engage in the conversation
If you are pursuing personal development.
  • Sign-up for our distance education training, TOGAF, the video, IT4IT, the video, and take the free EA and Governance , Risk and Compliance course,
  • Download the World Class Enterprise Architecture series
  • read the Architecture Graveyard chucking like it was a Mr Bean’s Christmas Special, and not what you saw this morning while you lived another Dilbert cartoon.

Join the conversation. Make the world a better place.

Filed Under: Agile EA, Blog, Conexiam, Consulting, IT4IT, Navigate, Practical EA, Predictable EA, Publications, Real World EA, TOGAF, Training, World Class EA Tagged With: Agile EA, Architecture Graveyard, Best Practice, EA Capability, EA Education, EA Governance, Enterprise Architecture, Governor's, IT4IT, Leader's, Open Group, Practical EA, Practitioner's, Real Word EA, TOGAF, Training, Useful EA, Vanguard

May 5, 2017 Leave a Comment

Webinar Recording: A Practitioner’s Guide to Using the TOGAF® ADM

This webinar walks through developing Enterprise Architecture aligned to purpose. Enterprise Architecture is developed for one very simple reason: to guide effective change. Effective change starts with a strategy and realizes value via appropriate solution implementation. A practitioner develops the architecture to support decision making at different stages – Strategy Development, Portfolio Development, Project Funding and Solution Delivery Governance. In doing so, we iterate through the ADM phases.

In this webinar we will walk through the alignment of purpose driven architecture with business cycle, iterating the ADM phase, exploration of EA landscape and decision making rights of the practitioner. Finally, we will talk about effective and practical governance to realize the value from the EA effort.

  • Practitioner’s Approach to developing EA Webinar Slides
  • Practitioner’s Approach Webinar Recording
  • Webinar based on World-Class EA: A Practitioners’ Approach to Developing Enterprise Architecture Following the TOGAF® ADM.

The Practitioners’ paper is a companion to the TOGAF framework and is intended to bring the concepts and generic constructs in the TOGAF framework to life. This paper puts forward current thinking on developing, maintaining, and using an Enterprise Architecture (EA) using the TOGAF Architecture Development Method (ADM). It describes an approach based upon the established best practice contained within TOGAF, an Open Group standard.

Filed Under: Blog, Conexiam, Open Group, Practical EA, Publications, Real World EA, TOGAF, Vanguard Method, Webinar, World Class EA

February 15, 2017 Leave a Comment

TOGAF Practitioner’s paper

The “World-Class EA – A Practitioners’ Approach to Developing Enterprise Architecture Following the TOGAF® ADM” is part of three documents that provide the basic guidance on using TOGAF.

Each document is written to a different participant:

  • Leader
  • Governor
  • Practitioner

The Practitioner’s paper is aimed at the person who has to develop effective enterprise architecture

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Filed Under: Blog, Open Group, Publications, TOGAF, World Class EA Tagged With: Best Practice, Dave Hornford, Ken Street, Nathan Hornford, Practitioner's, Real Word EA, Samantha Toder, Sriram Sabesan

May 20, 2016 Leave a Comment

EA with a Purpose

Experience has shown that there no one right structure, purpose or design for an EA Team. Organizations have focused their EA on strategy or portfolio or project or a combination of these. Best practice EA teams enable organizational change leaders, particular transformation efforts, focused on broad continuous improvement initiatives. For many the default position is all about IT & embedded with an IT organization.

There is no single correct scope, level of detail, or purpose for an EA. Anyone who tells you so should also provide the toner & paper for your resume – you will need it up-to-date. Thoughtlessly following a pre-packaged purpose is no different than recommending a fast-food chain start making Chateaubriand because Chateaubriand is tasty.

An architected approach can typically enable four broad goals:

  • EA to support Strategy: provide an end-to-end target architecture, and develop roadmaps of change over longer time periods. In this context, architecture is used to identify change initiatives and supporting portfolio and programs.
  • EA to support Portfolio: Deliver EA to support cross-functional, multi-phase, and multi-project change initiatives. In this context, architecture is used to identify projects, set their terms of reference, align their approaches, identify synergies, and govern their execution.
  • EA to support Project: Deliver EA to support the Enterprise’s project delivery method to assure compliance with architectural governance, and to support the integration and alignment between projects.
  • EA to support Solution Deployment: Deliver EA that is used to support solution deployment by defining how the change will be designed and delivered, and finally, act as a governance framework for change

An EA team aligned to purpose is focused. Focus allows getting to done and after a missed purpose failing to get to done is the largest killer of EA teams.

Most importantly, focus enables excellence. EA Leaders understand the skills required, the information to be gathered, the analysis performed and who their stakeholders are. They also know when to communicate; when the decision is taken, when the actions are needed.  Following the analogy, cook the Chateaubriand for dinner.

Today most EA teams are in trouble. They are off target; they are late; they are not helpful. If you work for one of these teams or lead one of these teams, ask the hard question: What am I set-up to support and what does my organization want to be helped. Then take action.

There is plenty of self-help guidance available, with the Open Group we published a Leader’s Guide, or explore Conexiam’s EA Capability Reference Model. We also offer a fast-track service Predictable EA: Establishing an EA Team.

In the end: deliver what is needed, when it is required, to the stakeholder who needs it. Be warned, once you start to be consistently useful, you don’t get to stop being useful. The improvement needs of your organization are infinite.

Filed Under: Conexiam, Practical EA, Training, Vanguard Method, World Class EA, Your Career Tagged With: EA Capability, Leader's, Open Group, Purpose, Real Word EA, Reference Model

January 20, 2016 Leave a Comment

World-Class EA: A Leader’s Approach to Establishing and Evolving an EA Capability

Over the past few years, we have been synthesizing Conexiam’s experience in a consistent practice.  Today, with the Open Group, we published the latest World Class EA whitepaper, “A Leader’s Approach to Establishing and Evolving an EA Capability” available from The Open Group.

The “Leader’s Guide” is the first time Conexiam has published our approach and guidance. We consolidated our experience establishing & enhancing EA teams around the world and tested these with colleagues at the Open Group. The paper identifies best practices you should adopt to stand-up, strengthen & sustain your EA Capability. We look forward to future publications on Conexiam’s best practices.
Highlights of the paper include:

  • Unambiguous guidance that there is not a single context-free approach to succeeding with an EA Capability.
  • Real-world example of exercising TOGAF’s ADM
  • The lack of clear objectives being the biggest contributor to failure for EA Capability

Conexiam has established and enhanced EA Capability focused on strategy, portfolio, and project, embedded in an IT organization, reporting to organizational change Leaders to support specific transformation projects and to provide focused continuous change. This experience highlights there is no one right EA Capability model. This paper was written to guide an EA Leader to identify the approach appropriate to your Enterprise. Appropriate to your context. Appropriate to your purpose. We cannot overstate the importance of aligning to your Enterprise’s context and purpose. In our experience, anyone who suggests there is a single correct approach is dead wrong, even though they create consulting opportunities to re-boot a soon-to-fail EA Capability.

The paper is available from The Open Group book store

Filed Under: Conexiam, News, Open Group, Practical EA, Real World EA, TOGAF, World Class EA Tagged With: Best Practice, Dave Hornford, EA Capability, Ken Street, Leader's, Nathan Hornford, Open Group, Practical EA, Presentation, Real Word EA, Samantha Toder, Sriram Sabesan, TOGAF, Training, Webinar

July 15, 2015 Leave a Comment

EA Culture in Government of Canada

The Government of Canada has established enterprise architecture practice as a government-wide culture. This has been achieved through a series of incremental changes to management practice over the past two decades. The result is a management approach that has strong enterprise architecture underpinnings. In this talk, we will explore the initiatives that have created this culture and explore the impact on both governance, management, and the practice of enterprise architecture in the Government of Canada.

Key Takeaways:

  • Not all enterprise architecture practice is done by enterprise architects
  • Effective enterprise architecture practice is done, not talked about
  • Enterprise architects must be bridge builders.

Originally presented at the Open Group Philadelphia conference July 15.

Filed Under: Conexiam, Connections, Presentation, World Class EA Tagged With: Bill Brierley, Canada, EA Culture, Get Canada, Real Word EA

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