Get real: EA is political (on the “value” of EA)
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What is "the value of EA"?
It is a political and/or professional
judgement with as many answers as there are stakeholders.
EA could mean:
1.
A team
of professionals doing stuff - often employed on work that isn't EA.
2.
A set
of processes and products like TOGAF - often used for work that isn't EA.
3.
A
repository - often used for solution/project level documentation.
To
demonstrate the value of EA implies we can measure and compare the values of
doing it and not doing it.
Value could mean the benefit less cost of
1 and/or 2 and/or 3. It could include or exclude their use for things other
than EA.
Generally
speaking, there are no convincing numbers; it is
impossible to measure any of these things in a convincingly objective way.
The EA team is a group of professionals who design and/or govern systems and
system changes that support and enable business roles processes with a view to
the effectiveness, efficiency, cross-organisational standardisation and integration of those systems.
Discussion
between architects and business people is much about how business roles and
processes are best digitised.
It is impossible to measure how far "EA" helps with that, since it would be done to some extent without an EA team or framework.
(And is sometimes now considered the role of a "Chief Digital
Officer".)
The value of the EA team is a judgement
call made by its sponsors.
The
extent to which a business buys into an EA team (and any framework it uses) is
mostly a political and professional judgement.
And whether EA is perceived to succeed or not as much down to the
team members as any EA framework.
The value of EA processes and products is to the EA team (rather than business
managers) and those values are judgement calls made by the professionals in
that EA team.
EA frameworks emerged partly out of a recognition that the digitised systems of a business are in a mess, disintegrated, inflexible etc.
It is
impossible to value how far an EA framework helps to reduce the cost and risk
of running with the current system estate.
Since the cost and risk would be addressed to some extent without an EA team or
framework.
This
paper collects and distils points from discussions over several years about:
·
the goals of an EA team
·
the value of EA-level thinking about IT systems
·
the difficulties of measuring "value"
objectively
·
the challenge of
maintaining sponsorship for EA through changing times and sponsors.
It
suggests reasons why EA is challenging, why many EA team members are deployed
as solution architects, and why “Guerilla EA” may be
accepted as an alternative to top-down EA.
Correspondent: What is the purpose of the
paper?
Reply: The general aim is to be realistic, to reflect the experiences of EA team members.
And to challenge those glib elevator pitches for EA that can have the reverse effect of what is hoped, and to make some suggestions.
Correspondent: Does every business need an
EA team?
Reply: Some business managers are looking
for a "transformation", but not all, perhaps not many.
It is not unknown for a business to form,
disband and reform an EA team.
This paper suggests EA teams may survive
lean times by doing solution architecture, risk management and “guerilla EA”.
Correspondent: I have hammered into me if
you cannot define a benefit between doing something and doing nothing, then take the option that requires the least work.
Reply: Managers may ask us to quantify the value of an endeavour.
Of course "value" means something different to every stakeholder for whom a value proposition may be drawn up.
Whose valuation matters, how it is quantified are open to widely different interpretations.
Many big decisions (investment in a high-speed railway, or going to war) are made with a questionable business case.
The biggest management decisions are often speculative and somewhat risky ventures.
Correspondent: For me, the value of EA depends on the pains being suffered by
the business.
Reply: Yes. For
many potential sponsors, a principal value of EA is pain relief, but they have
first to recognise the pain.
And senior management pain is often a feeling rather than a number.
Correspondent: E.g. The pain of poor
business and IT alignment is reduced when EA translates between the two and
works through issues before IT starts solution design or deployment.
Reply: That is solution architecture and
risk management rather than EA.
But it is a great thing to do, and by
doing it, an EA team can build respect for discussion of more EA-level
proposals.
Correspondent: What general pains are there, to be contextualised
for each scenario?
Reply: The paper refers to these pains:
1 Regulation, 2 Multi-channel customer interactions, 3 Fragmented
systems, 4 Product proliferation, 5 Geographic
expansion,
6 Poor data quality or management information, 7 Weak risk
management, 8 Rigid systems and 9 IT costs.
It is your job to find the pains your managers feel, and EA can address.
EITHER read each of the following short papers for discussion of each topic OR click here for an abbreviated PDF version
· Who values the “enterprise as a system”?
· Effective implementation of business goals
· Simplification and cross-organisational integrity
· Return on investment in systems (On cost cutting)
· Reduction of operational or change risk
· Increased business and IT agility
· Focus on process rather than organisation
· Where EA sits in the business
There will always be trade-offs, such as between global integrity and local agility.
And now and then, architects are obliged to implement systems purchased by senior managers after lunch with a salesman.
Guerrilla EA does what it can with minimal sponsorship to tidy up the mess.
EA teams wanting more sponsorship should try to clarify the operational costs of uncontrolled duplication, variation and disintegration.
And also to clarify the political value of change – which means addressing the pains, threats and opportunities felt by sponsor-level decision makers.
Pains include:
1 Regulation, 2 Multi-channel customer interactions, 3
Fragmented systems, 4 Product proliferation, 5
Geographic expansion,
6 Poor data quality or management information, 7 Weak risk
management, 8 Rigid systems and 9 IT costs.
It is your job to find the pains your managers feel, and EA can address.
This paper’s "get real" message is unpopular with some.
However, over-generalised and over-hyped definitions of “EA” may well be part of the problem.
What was and is wrong with the title "Business Systems Planning"?
References
Ref. 1: TOGAF 9.1, The Open Group.
Ref. 2: Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. Cf. 1942 G. Ciano Diary 9 Sept. (1946) II.
Ref. 3: Heylighen F. (1992): "Evolution, Selfishness and Cooperation", Journal of Ideas, Vol 2, # 4, pp 70-76.
Ref. 4: “EA as Strategy” Ross, Weill and Robertson.
Ref. 5: ArchiMate v2 standard, The Open Group.
The papers on the “Enterprise Architecture” page at http://avancier.website contain much advice relating to EA.
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