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EA Win, Lose, or Drawfrom August 30th, 2010
In the late 1980s, a game show aired on NBC entitled Win, Lose, or Draw. As I reflect upon the frenzy of activity and buzz around “Enterprise Architecture” over the last couple of years, I cannot help but think of the contestants frantically scribbling things on the board, as their teammates attempted to make sense of the sometimes rather incoherent drawings.
Sound familiar? Have you ever seen architecture initiatives that are reminiscent of this show?
The connection back to Enterprise Architecture (EA) occurs to me at two very important levels:
- I have worked with many organizations where what passes for architecture is more or less frantic scribbling on a flip chart that is then interpreted by the team as an actual strategy as they attempt to make sense out of the madness.
- The subject of EA and its relative value is in question for many organizations and the options line up perfectly with the show’s title – Win (EA provides value), Lose (EA is hype / fluff), or Draw (EA has potential, but an enterprise’s ability to capitalize on that value is in question.)
Earlier this year, I wrote a brief whitepaper exploring this subject - “EA Win, Lose, or Draw” (click to download the full paper). In the paper, I outline four obstacles to achieving success with EA:
- Insufficient Resource Allocation
- Lack of Education
- Uncertainty Regarding Architecture Models and Frameworks
- Lack of Business Involvement
The bulk of the paper focuses on introducing the subject of EA, framing it properly within an enterprise context, and describing the core value of ‘alignment’ that it delivers to organizations. The last section introduces these four obstacles. I will be devoting future posts on this blog to exploring these EA obstacles.
The paper concludes with the following statements: “Good architecture is real and possesses value for the enterprise. It requires time and determination to develop a properly aligned architecture. With a focused team, direct business involvement, and sufficient time, a solid enterprise, solution, and software architecture can be put in place to move the enterprise from the current enterprise state to the desired future state. Winning with architecture is not automatic, but it shouldn’t require you to try and make sense of a bunch of random doodles on paper either. Win, Lose, or Draw? You decide.”