The Power of Manifestos
Every great movement begins with a manifesto.
A manifesto is more than a statement. It’s a shared declaration of belief.
It defines why people do what they do, not how they do it.
In the world of technology, manifestos have often marked turning points, moments when the community stopped following routines and started questioning its principles.
The most famous example is the Agile Manifesto (2001). It changed how software is built shifting the focus from process to person, from documentation to collaboration, from rigidity to adaptability. It wasn’t just a list of principles; it was a new way of thinking that shaped two decades of modern IT culture.
But Agile was not the only one. Over the years, other manifestos have appeared each of them redefining how we see technology, teamwork, and value creation:
| Manifesto | Year | Principles / Values | Format | Core Idea |
| Agile Manifesto | 2001 | 12 principles + 4 values | A short 68-word text with a principal list | Flexibility, collaboration, feedback loops. |
| DevOps Manifesto | 2012 | 10 principles | Based on CALMS (Culture, Automation, Lean, Measurement, Sharing) | Breaking silos, building continuous delivery culture. |
| Data-Centric Manifesto | 2018 | 4 principles | Minimalist document | Data as a strategic asset, not a byproduct. |
| Continuous Architecture Manifesto | 2016 | 7 principles | Concise text with commentary | Architecture as a continuous, evolutionary process. |
| Open Agile Architecture (O-AA) | 2020 | 6 guiding principles | Part of The Open Group standard | Architecture as an enabler of business agility. |
| Manifesto for Software Craftsmanship | 2008 | 4 values | Extension of the Agile Manifesto | Quality, professionalism, and mastery of the craft. |
| Lean Manifesto (Lean Software Development) | 2003 | 7 principles | Derived from Lean Manufacturing | Eliminating waste, accelerating flow, empowering people. |
What unites all these manifestos is simple:
- They didn’t predict what to do.
- They defined what to believe in.
- They gave professionals a language for shared values not a checklist of rules, but a compass for collective judgment.
Together, these manifestos represent the moral backbone of modern IT a collection of ideas that transformed industries, redefined leadership, and turned abstract disciplines into shared movements.
The Evolution of IT Manifestos
So Where Is the Enterprise Architecture Manifesto?
And that’s when I started wondering, where ours is?
Enterprise Architecture has frameworks, standards, and certifications. But it doesn’t have a shared declaration a clearly articulated set of values that defines what we, as architects, believe in.
That’s how the idea for my post “The Enterprise Architecture Manifesto (v1.0)” was born.
It wasn’t an attempt to replace existing frameworks or methodologies.
It was simply an open question to the community:
- If we were to write the Enterprise Architecture Manifesto today, what would it say?
When a Post Became a Movement
When I published “The Enterprise Architecture Manifesto (v1.0)”, I expected a quiet professional discussion a few comments, an exchange of opinions, maybe a short debate about phrasing.
But something very different happened.
The post became a living forum of architects from around the world. Within days, hundreds of ideas, quotes, clarifications, and even mini manifestos appeared in the comments.
Architects from the UK, Germany, India, the United States, and Australia weren’t talking about frameworks anymore, they were talking about the meaning of the profession itself.
People weren’t arguing about terminology; they were searching for the right words to describe why architecture exists at all. Many admitted they had been waiting for this conversation not about processes, but about principles.
One participant wrote:
- “EA is no longer a discipline that designs systems, it’s a way of thinking about how organizations learn to change.”
Another observed:
- “We don’t need another framework. We need clarity, why we do what we do.”
Those comments turned out to be more important than the post itself. They showed that the global architecture community is ready to rethink the role of Enterprise Architecture, not as administrative control, but as the intellectual and ethical core of an organization.
The post stopped being a text. It became a movement.
Some called it “Manifesto 2.0.” Others called it an “architectural awakening.” For me, it became a simple reminder:
- Architecture is alive only when people are part of it.
What Ideas Emerged from the Discussion
When the comment count passed three hundred, it became clear: this was no longer a reaction thread, it was a collective effort.
Each participant contributed something unique: some single sentence, others an entire philosophy. But the more I read, the more I began to see common thread’s themes that united architects across countries, frameworks, and years of experience.
1 Transparency and Trust
Many argue that architecture loses its meaning when its decisions are not understood by those affected by them. Architecture must explain not only what and how, but also why.
- “Without transparency, even the best frameworks collapse.”
— Mohamed Abbadi
This thought became a new principle:
Transparency over comfort — because only transparent decisions inspire trust and build maturity.
2 Flexibility over Rigidity
In a world where change happens weekly, resilience can’t be built on rules written a decade ago.
- “Architecture shouldn’t enforce a single path, it should create space for meaningful choices.”
— Tim Jödden
Thus emerged the principle:
Viable options over fixed plans — agility that allows choice instead of constraint.
3 Simplicity and Clarity
Almost every second comment touched on language. Architecture doesn’t lose respect because it’s complex, it loses it when it’s unclear.
- “If an artifact doesn’t make value transparent, it isn’t doing its job.”
— Shinto Paul
Architects become translators and sometimes guardians of an organization’s cognitive integrity. Hence the principle:
Clarity over complexity — clarity as the highest form of architectural maturity.
4 People over Systems
Contrary to the popular belief that architecture is about technology, many reminded us that technology is only a tool. Real architecture is built around people their interactions, trust, and purpose.
- “The best architectures are built around people, not diagrams.”
— Michiel Jeuken
So, one message echoed again and again:
People over technology — because architecture ultimately serves humans, not machines.
5 Evolution, Not Revolution
Participants spoke often about balance between speed and mindfulness. Change is inevitable, but destruction for the sake of novelty is not the architect’s way.
- “Architecture should help organizations design the future, not enforce the past.”
— Tory Bjorklund
From this came the principle:
Evolution over revolution — progress through purpose, not through chaos.
6 Principles over Frameworks
One of the strongest recurring motifs: tools matter, but they don’t replace thinking. A framework without principles turns architects into administrators.
- “The shift from frameworks to principles — that’s the real evolution.”
— from community discussion
Hence:
Principles over frameworks — thinking before tooling.
7 Shared Vision over Fragments
Some reminded us that architecture isn’t a diagram. It’s a way to restore shared understanding across teams.
- “When alignment fades, clarity entropy appears. The architect’s role is to restore shared vision.”
— Shinto Paul
This insight formed the principle:
Restoration over reaction — restoring alignment matters more than reacting to chaos.
8 One Vision, Many Voices
Perhaps the most inspiring realization was that there can’t be a single universal manifesto. Each organization must create its own reflecting its culture, values, and maturity.
- “Maybe the secret isn’t one manifesto, but hundreds of micro-manifestos that reflect each team’s DNA.”
— from community discussion
And thus appeared the final principle:
One vision, many voices — a living architecture shaped collectively, not prescribed centrally.
These eight themes became the foundation of a new mindset not a new set of rules, but an architectural worldview where meaning, people, and clarity come first.
Eight Themes of the EA Manifesto
What This Revealed About the Profession of Architects
As I read through all those comments, one thing became clear: modern architects no longer see their work purely through the lens of technology.
For them, architecture is no longer a set of tools, neat diagrams, or governance checklists.
It has become a way of thinking about systems, people, and meaning.
1 From Control to Trust
Architecture is moving away from its traditional role of supervision. Architects increasingly see themselves not as “process guards,” but as partners in sensemaking helping organizations think, align, and decide.
They don’t want to audit; they want to enable.
They don’t want to enforce; they want to explain.
Trust is becoming the new form of governance.
- “When architecture is built on trust rather than fear, decisions mature naturally.”
— from community comments
2 From Frameworks to Thinking
Almost everyone in the discussion emphasized that architecture doesn’t need a new tool, it needs a new level of awareness. Frameworks are useful, but they are only the form. Thinking is the substance.
- “True transformation begins when we stop talking about methods and start talking about thinking.”
— from the EA principles discussion
It’s a shift from administration to reflection from mechanics to meaning.
3 From Diagrams to Dialogue
Architects are speaking more and more about communication as a core part of their role. Creating the perfect model is not enough one must be able to tell its story, in the language of business, data, and technology at once.
- “The architect is a translator someone who makes complexity understandable to everyone.”
— Shinto Paul
Architecture is becoming a strategic dialogue between leaders, engineers, and analysts a shared language of understanding.
4 From Process to Purpose
Architecture was once seen as a way to structure chaos. Today, it’s a way to find meaning within it. Many participants emphasized that an architect is not someone who applies templates, but someone who asks the right questions.
- “EA has stopped being a tool of control. It’s a tool of organizational awareness.”
— from community comments
5 From Individual Mastery to Collective Thinking
Perhaps the most inspiring aspect of this discussion was how architects supported each other. They didn’t compete; they co-created. This conversation showed that a new culture is emerging in the architecture world one of shared thinking, not rivalry.
- “Each new idea here didn’t destroy the previous one, it completed it. That’s architecture in action.”
— participant comment
This wave of dialogue revealed that the profession of architecture is undergoing an internal transformation. From a technical discipline, it is evolving into a practice of thinking about the future of organizations. And perhaps that’s why the idea of a manifesto resonated so deeply, because it’s not about technology, but about the human side of responsibility, clarity, and change.
What’s Next: The Birth of EA Manifesto 2.0
When I wrote my first post, I simply wanted to ask a question. Now I realize, it wasn’t a question at all.
It was an invitation. An invitation to a collective search for what makes architecture alive.
From hundreds of comments came dozens of principles, perspectives, and insights and none of them contradicted each other. Together, they formed a single, multi-voiced vision, what we can now call EA Manifesto 2.0. Community Edition.
What Has Changed
We used to measure architectural maturity by the number of artifacts, the degree of standardization, or the speed of implementation. Now we are beginning to measure it by clarity, trust, and meaning.
Architecture no longer lives in documents. It lives in dialogues between business and IT, between teams and leaders, between people trying to understand how to build a system capable of learning.
What Lies Ahead
The manifesto born from this discussion will not be a committee-approved document. It will be living, open, and human just like architecture itself. It will not replace TOGAF, ArchiMate, or ITIL. It will simply remind us why these frameworks exist in the first place:
To build not only systems but also meaning. To help organizations design their future without losing their humanity. To remain flexible, honest, and conscious even when everything changes.
An Invitation to the Community
I don’t want to write this manifesto alone.
It’s already being written in every conversation, every idea, every shared experience among architects around the world.
The next step is to bring these principles together and shape them into a document accessible to everyone who lives and breathes architecture.
EA Manifesto 2.0 will not be a theory. It will be a reflection of our collective thinking.
EA Manifesto 2.0 — Core Principles
| № | Principle | Essence |
| 1 | Transparency over comfort | Transparency and clarity matter more than convenience or formality. |
| 2 | People over technology | Architecture is built around people and trust. |
| 3 | Principles over frameworks | Thinking and values matter more than tools. |
| 4 | Viable options over fixed plans | Architecture creates space for choices, not restrictions. |
| 5 | Clarity over complexity | Clarity is the highest form of architectural maturity. |
| 6 | Evolution over revolution | Conscious change is better than chaotic acceleration. |
| 7 | Purpose over compliance | Purpose is more important than formal adherence to rules. |
| 8 | Enablement over enforcement | Architecture enables rather than enforces. |
| 9 | Collaboration over control | True governance is built on collaboration. |
| 10 | One vision, many voices | Architecture is collective thinking, not dogma. |
If the first post became the beginning of a conversation, let this manifesto become the beginning of a movement.
Nadzeya Stalbouskaya is an award-winning Technology Architect, prolific author, and recognized international
conference speaker. With numerous publications across respected global journals and magazines, she is widely regarded as one of the emerging voices shaping the future of enterprise architecture and digital transformation. Nadzeya is an active member of leading industry organizations, serving as ambassador and advisor to global communities where she promotes knowledge exchange, governance excellence, and innovative architectural thinking. She has spoken at some of the most prestigious events in Europe, inspiring thousands of professionals with practical strategies for addressing architecture debt, building resilient systems, and accelerating business transformation.