I am about to engage on a project where I will be applying the framework of TOGAF9, The Open Group Architecture Framework, version9. Version 9 was released in Feb 2009 replacing version 8.1.1. Like many frameworks is is not a "use out of the box item", it has over 780 pages, a little bedtime reading.
The challenge I am starting to face is the HOW. There is plenty of information out there on WHAT it is, but so far I have found very little on HOW. If you come across this article any offer of information would be greatly appreciated.
The biggest question I get is what is Enterprise Architecture, or we have an excel list of all our servers. The pragmatic approach is to ask "what needs to be done to make the most of our enterprise IT resources". But in the level of the CIO and business it is the "Alignment of Business and IT"
In many of these IT frameworks they have maturity indicators. Over the years I have devised my own which shows to what level business and IT are integrated. That indicator is the value business places in IT. The value is the fly away comments you hear. "IT never works" or "they just don't get it, why can't do my job?" These are companies that have abdicated their responsibility to IT to figure out what they want. The usual reason being that its to complex and they should know what they are doing, we pay them enough.
Where you don't hear these types of comments are in companies that seam to have figured it out and aligned their business needs to the technology. They have owned their business and identified their needs and requirements. IT then has been given the authority to supply as per their needs. This should be done based on sound business knowledge of: "will this technology improve processes, save time or make money". It can't be any simpler than that, because why would you spend money in any business if it did not give value.
Enterprise Architecture is one of those tools that a business can use to bring about that alignment. It is just one of many tools, ie ITIL, Project Management - Prince2 - PMBOK, Cobit, Governance, etc.
The Enterprise Architect is to IT as a City Planner is to City. Where a city planner would provide a map of a city and the zoning an Enterprise Architect provides the IT Zoning map. The city planner would not provide the individual designs of each building but more a road map of the zones within that City. There Enterprise Architect provides those City Maps of the IT space. Its not to say they don't corral all the details, they draw more of a picture from many viewpoints to interpret the information and details so business is in a better position to invest and manage their investment in IT.
Enterprise Architecture is one of the most effective ways to align both Business and IT. But as they say the proof is in the pudding so I start my journey and we shall see. :)
