To borrow from the introduction to The Restaurant at the End
of the Universe (a book by Douglas Adams)…
There is a theory which
states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what EA is for and why it is here,
it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and
inexplicable.
There is another theory
which states that this has already happened!
This graphic shows three fundamental areas of
Transformation; X, Y and Z.
Many people say it is not the labels that are important but
the things that those labels represent. This is true to a certain extent,
however, as POET tells us in the Introduction - language is key. Since we speak
in labels all the time, it is vitally important to have a common understanding
of what we mean when we use them, or at the very least, the ability to realise
when we are not using the labels to mean the same thing and to act
appropriately. This is especially true when a label (name or acronym) is used
widely and extensively. Enterprise Architecture (EA) is definitely in that
category.
There is (and has been for a long time) endless debate about
what EA is. All those debates revolve around everyone putting forward their
definition and then arguing about it. This approach has not taken us forward
over the last 20 years, and is unlikely to do so over the next 20 years. Therefore,
a more Pragmatic approach is needed. Instead
of just stating what we believe EA to be, let’s consider the question from
another direction.
Before we start let’s define a useful linguistic pattern,
with reference to talking about eh architectgure of something. We could say
that…
…X Architecture, is the
fundamentally important structure of the whole of X,
set in the context of things outside of X that
affect it, or are affected by it.
So that we can then easily say that
·
Application Architecture is the
fundamentally important structure of the whole of an Application,
set in the context of things outside of the Application, that affect it, or are affected by it.
·
Building Architecture is the
fundamentally important structure of the whole of a Building,
set in the context of things outside of a Building,
that affect it, or are affected by it.
·
Aircraft Architecture is the
fundamentally important structure of the whole of an Aircraft,
set in the context of things outside of an Aircraft,
that affect it, or are affected by it.
So, given this pattern we have labelled the diagram with 3
things. X, Y and Z.
·
A shows the fundamentally
important structure of the whole of the Enterprise
(including but not limited to IT), set in the context of things outside
of the the
Enterprise, that affects it, or are affected by it.
·
B shows the fundamentally
important structure of the whole of the the IT of the
Enterprise, set in the context of things outside of the IT of the Enterprise, that affects it, or are
affected by it.
·
C shows the fundamentally
important structure of the whole of a Project
Solution, set in the context of things outside of a Project Solution, that affects it, or are
affected by it.
From this, it is clear to Pragmatic that:
·
A is Enterprise Architecture (or EA for short)
·
B is Enterprise IT Architecture (or EITA for short) which is what
the vast majority of people wrongly think EA is.
·
C is Solutions Architecture (or SA for short)
