Enterprise Architecture Graveyard

Trap #195 – Not following the conversation Architecture concerns are the criteria to assess acceptability. Enterprise architects’ highest value is assisting stakeholders identify the best path to improving their organization. Then provide the governance tool […]

Trap #7 – Asking the Easy Question Enterprise architects are in the room to address hard questions. Questions whose answers serve divergent outcomes. Crash and burn stories Too many EA teams are low functioning. Literally […]

Trap #53 Starting From Scratch High functioning EA Teams are efficient. They aggressively use other people’s reference architectures. They leverage an EA repository. Crash and burn stories Low-functioning EA Teams. One anti-pattern after another. If […]

Trap #67 Confusing Roles Enterprise architects know their role is to facilitate a better decision. Their value proposition comes from analysis. They support people who own complex decisions – the stakeholder. Crash and burn stories […]

Trap #16 Just the Diagram Enterprise architects at the top of their game develop architecture. An enterprise architecture is useful while it is being developed, and after the stakeholder approves it. We use diagrams. They are […]

Trap #2 Not Making Progress There is a frankly alarming trend in the EA profession: short-lived EA Teams. High functioning EA teams align their deliverables to the business cycle and use a structured repository. Low-functioning […]

Trap #1 Trying to Own Decision Rights Stakeholders own the enterprise architecture and all decision rights. They approve the target architecture. They decide how to address compliance failures. Crash and burn stories Low-functioning EA Teams. […]