Overview
I have worked with enterprise architects in organizations without formal EA practices that function as solutions architects, guiding the development of complex systems for which decisions about the target business and infrastructure architectures are assigned to others.
Architects can react to these circumstances with resignation, and focus completely on their solutions architecture role, or they can perform enterprise-aligned solutions architecture, in which they demonstrate the value of EA while guiding their assigned solutions to successful delivery. These approaches also apply to IT architects that aspire to EA roles and seek to demonstrate their personal capabilities.
Enterprise-aligned solutions architecture consists of two key tactics, which the remainder of this article explores:
- Embedding EA in solutions architecture.
- Removing the barriers to EA.
Embedding EA in Solutions Architecture
As architects guide solution delivery, they can assume an EA perspective, beginning with understanding business strategy. Often, engineering teams do not fully understand the strategic intent of projects. Architects can meet with project sponsors to understand the strategic context of their assigned solutions, and model it using, for example, the Motivation Elements and Strategy Layer of the ArchiMate language. They can present these models to project sponsors to confirm shared understanding and to engineering teams to motivate them and develop their business acumen.
Architects can specify strategically relevant standards and reusable components that satisfy immediate solution requirements. Once delivery activities are on track, they can organize review meetings to ratify standards and specifications to guide future work. In the absence of an architecture review board, they can invite key stakeholders such as their CTO, CIO, and engineering leaders to these meetings, and capture their results in a decision log.
Architects can also proactively expose tradeoffs in solutions design between increased effort and accumulation of technical debt. While they may not be able to make or constrain these decisions singlehandedly, architects can investigate and communicate the tradeoffs. Engineering leaders may well be sensitive to these choices, and support a more strategic approach.
After delivery, architects can assemble all architecturally significant project artifacts, and use them to seed an enterprise repository, which they can promote as a location for future work.
By applying EA to their solution architecture engagements, architects can demonstrate its value and recruit advocates for practice maturity.
Removing the Barriers to EA
It is hard to imagine an ambitious and engaged technology leader or engineer who does not want their solutions to meet both immediate and strategic requirements. However, I have found that many technology delivery organizations are unable to act strategically due to a self-reinforcing combination of resource constraints, tight delivery timelines, technical debt, and immature delivery processes.
This is a terrific opportunity for business architecture. Architects can work with delivery teams to uncover the tactical issues that keep them from strategic activities such as refactoring code, retiring obsolescent technologies, and collaborating on standards.
Is the project lifecycle ambiguous? Should certain fragile systems be prioritized for refactoring and replacement? Do systems and processes lack documentation that can be used across teams? Architects can uncover solutions to these problems and make cases for investment by applying their business, data, application and technology architecture skills.
Conclusion
The criticality and value of EA is well understood by industry analysts and standards organizations.
According to the Gartner Group,
The modern EA practice is expected to play a central role in formulating and executing technology strategy, driving innovation and ensuring resilience.
And according to the Open Group guide Using the TOGAF® Standard in the Digital Enterprise, the benefits of EA include
More effective and efficient business operations…digital enterprise and IT operations…Better return on existing investment, reduced risk for future investment… Faster, simpler, and cheaper procurement…
Titled and aspiring enterprise architects tasked with solutions architecture can strengthen their organizations and build their careers by applying EA frameworks and methods both to their solutions and to the organizations that deliver them.
This conclusion is also the springboard for EA Principals’ advanced approach to delivering its EA courses. These include courses geared toward both EAs and Solutions Architecture, such as by relating the different building blocks of TOGAF, ArchiMate, DODAF, FEAF, Strategic Portfolio Management, and SAFe in its customized certification courses.
Authored by Iver Band, EA Principals Senior Instructor and ArchiMate Expert