Ten Silver Rules for EA

“The rules of navigation never navigated a ship. The rules of architecture never built a house.”                       - Thomas Reid

Part of the (enterprise) architect's role is to explicate the organization's architecture by identifying the components (capabilities, implementations, management structures, etc.) that make up the architecture at a point in time. Here are ten silver rules of EA.

1. Enterprise Architecture, as a discipline and a function, should be responsible for the form and expression of enterprise strategy.

2. Architecting an enterprise has to output an actionable blueprint to build an operating enterprise 

3. Architectures (enterprise or otherwise) are built from reusable assets; EA frameworks are built to manage reusable assets to avoid reinventing wheels;.  

4. EA is not about documentation. It is about providing direction so that decisions can be made, executed, and measured.     
       
5. EA is not for pursuing perfect-ness, but for achieving better-ness; it's the framework to allow asking questions and expect to get answers. 

6. The most important task of EA (EA as a management function, not as a set of artifacts) is to enable and make the most of organizational change. 

7. EAs should define the target enterprise (not merely the target architecture), and Enterprise architecture is the architecture of the enterprise, not just IT architecture. 

8. The ultimate value of EA is not in the plan (EA vision, strategy, roadmap) itself, it is in value created by operationalizing the plan. 

9. EA without BPM would not yield and vice-versa. EA provides a holistic view of the process with all relevant elements 

10. The unique value proposition of enterprise architecture is to ensure the success of human Endeavour.

Posted in: EA,Principle/Practice