Did you know that 80 percent of all enterprise architecture (EA) initiatives are not completed because they fail to demonstrate “value added” to current business practices? I recently attended the Troux Directions Federal Users Conference, which made some excellent points on the theme: “How does EA add value?”

Here are some take-away notes from the conference that may help with your Strategic IT Planning (SITP) initiatives and show you how a mature EA can add value and perhaps generate some continuing dialogue.

I recently took a personality profile test called the Clifton StrengthsFinder. This test measures the presence of talent in 34 categories called "themes." These themes were determined by The Gallup Organization as those that most consistently predict outstanding performance. The greater the presence of a theme of talent within a person, the more likely that person is to spontaneously exhibit those talents in day-to-day behaviors.

Since the turn of the decade, forward thinking executives and technologists have pondered how to use enterprise architecture and IT planning processes to drive enterprise strategy.  This has not been an easy road. 
 

In the run up to the Dot Com bubble, IT organizations went on a spending binge.  Most companies purchased technologies without proper due diligence or strategic planning.  By 2000, CIOs had a larger share of the enterprise budget than ever before.  
 

Listen to Jonas Lamis and George Paras from Architecture and Governance Magazine as they have a conversation about Enterprise Architecture and Strategic Planning in 2009, touching on the economy, industry strategies, and challenges for the Obama administration tech policy.

The financial markets are in dire straights with global banking stalwarts a mere shell of their former corporate selves. As divestitures, downsizings, asset sales, and in particular mergers and acquisitions proliferate, leaders from the strategic technology planning and information management domains have the opportunity to step forward and provide great value to an otherwise unsavory situation.

If there is one thing we have come to expect for society these days, its volatility.  The ups and downs of the financial markets mirror the gyrations of corporate strategy that in turn are reflected in the uncertainty of our country, careers, even ourselves.

We’d all like to have a “rock”, a center of calm in the storm that rages around us.  But, at least for me, I find myself having a harder and harder time just relaxing and tuning it all out.

For the third year, Architecture & Governance Magazine has undertaken a major survey of the IT community to understand its changing perspectives on strategy, process, politics, and the evolving role of the enterprise architect. This year, 401 readers completed the survey over a seven-day period in June. Some of the results were expected—following trends we have observed in years past. But some were quite startling—in particular, the declining relevance of the enterprise architecture process among its more quantifiable brethren.

IT leadership and EA teams struggle with how to effectively engage business leadership regarding application systems that do not adhere to architectural standards or technology strategy. A simple technique can be used to effectively illustrate when existing systems do not fit with current standards or strategic IT road maps, as well as to: 

I have recently had several interesting conversations with EA teams that have been assigned, for the first time, to support their companies’ annual strategy, planning, and budgeting activities. A common theme emerged: their leadership teams justified the assignment with the hope that enterprise architects would bring a broader enterprise perspective to the table, a perspective that does not normally exist in the frequently parochial worlds of business units, operational teams, and development groups.

Finding Balance and Adding Value to Projects with Enterprise Architecture

We are often asked what an architecture plan is and why it is important. As with most things, there isn’t a simple answer to what an architecture plan is. There is no standard template for an architecture plan. Every organization is different, and the nature of the architecture plan changes depending on an organization’s specific needs.