Typical British climate, hot one day, wet and cold the next

Continuing work on the report, and still doing the out-lines, my aim is to finish them this week, as next week I am out so my boss can have time to send me comments.

On a wet dull day working from home when nobody is here does take the shine off it, but the work output will increase so it is swings and round-abouts.

EA or IT Strategy which came first

One question that appears to be the cause of much debate on the discussion forums and twitter is what role EA plays in an IT strategy. The proponents argue that it either defines the strategy, or is defined by the strategy.

However, if you examine the process of strategy as it relates to IT, then it becomes clear that EA is a component part in this process. That is to say, it works in conjunction with the strategy development process, and does not define the strategy, or is defined by the strategy. The role of EA is to translate the business strategic imperative into an IT architecture, an IT strategy considers more than just the architecture, as organisations, and strategies, are constructed from a combination of people, process and technology.

Therefore, neither came first, they are twins hatched from the same egg.

EA is it the role for you

Friday, after this week a day at home is good, yesterday the points at Rugby failed, so Euston St at 5pm was manic, in fact they cancelled all trains until 6pm, then you had too many people on the trains that were going north. Today is a day of speaking to journo’s and vendors, reviewing some documents and doing my expenses.

Enterprise Architecture (EA) an art or a science

For the bank holiday weekend I have decided to discuss the role of EA and in this blog concentrate on the capabilities needed to perform the role. In IT we believe everything can be decomposed to 1’s and 0’s: because that is the way the computer works, but EA is a discipline that attempts to cross the divide between the business world of £’s and NPV’s to that of the 1’s and 0’s.

Currently EA is in its embryonic state, by that I mean as a profession it is relatively immature, when compared to engineering where the status of Chartered Engineer (CEng) is recognised as a symbol of competence and ability presided over by a well structured standards organisation. It my contention that EA requires a similar rigorous body to standardise the skills and training needed to become an Enterprise Architect. Because only by raising the profile and making it recognisable and easy for employers to know that an individual has the skills to be an Enterprise Architect will the role become more organisational in its scope and therefore break-away from its current association with IT.

I believe that EA should be a discipline that reports to the CEO, and not CIO, as its purpose is to enable business strategy to be translated to executable programs that can deliver organisational value over the long-term