Slidedeck from Conferenz IT&EA Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, July 2016; also an extended version of slidedeck for IASA Architecture Summit, Dublin, Ireland, July 2016
This provides an overview of whole-enterprise architecture, and how it differs from and extends classic IT-centric 'enterprise'-architecture. It also provides a practical overview of methods, including three worked-examples.
Memorándum de Entendimiento (MoU) entre Codelco y SQM
Whole-enterprise architecture
1. How to re-think a business from scratch, with
Whole-enterprise architecture
Tom Graves, Tetradian Consulting
Conferenz IT & Enterprise Architecture Forum
Auckland, July 2016
11. The aim of all architecture…
Things work better
when they work together,
on purpose.
(It’s about effectiveness.)
12. …and enterprise is
“a bold endeavour”
(Enterprise as “a large commercial organisation” is valid too,
but it’s merely one narrow subset of a broader whole.)
16. “It’s not not about
the technology”
(Andrew McAfee)
(because technology is an enabler
that makes the enterprise possible)
17. …but it’s always about people…
CC-BY AllBrazilian via Wikimedia
(look! – technology in use!)
18. Technology is a means
Enterprise is the ends
Don’t mix them up!
19. What’s the current situation
with our frameworks
for enterprise-architecture?
20. What are we facing in EA?
• Cloud and other infrastructure changes
• Internet of Things, smart-cities and more
• Mobile, wearables, embedded-devices
• Technology-disruption, blockchain, materials
• Business-disruption, customer-centrism
• Spiralling complexity – any scope, any scale
21. What do we need from frameworks?
• Agility, speed, adaptability, simplicity
• Consistency of methods, models, frames
• Consistency across any scope, any scale
• Address all forms of complexity, dynamics etc
• Address all aspects of context, including human
• Practice-oriented, results-oriented
23. What do our EA frameworks give us?
• Most are built for classic big-IT only
• Cumbersome, inconsistent, needlessly verbose
• Most oriented to documentation, not practice
• Most require top-down Waterfall-type style
• No awareness of people-as-people
• No methods (TOGAF is almost the only exception)
24. • Most are built for classic big-IT only
• Cumbersome, inconsistent, needlessly verbose
• Most oriented to documentation, not practice
• Most require top-down Waterfall-type style
• No awareness of people-as-people
• No methods (TOGAF is almost the only exception)
a great big
clunky
outdated mess…
What do our EA frameworks give us?
27. What do our EA toolsets give us?
• Most are built for those big-IT frameworks
• Cumbersome, unwieldy, often user-hostile
• Most oriented to documentation, not practice
• Most assume top-down Waterfall-type style
• In most, no awareness of people-as-people
• Almost no support for methods (except TOGAF, again)
28. • Most are built for those big-IT frameworks
• Cumbersome, unwieldy, often user-hostile
• Most oriented to documentation, not practice
• Most assume top-down Waterfall-type style
• In most, no awareness of people-as-people
• Almost no support for methods (except TOGAF, again)
a great big
clunky
outdated mess…
What do our EA toolsets give us?
35. …and this time,
do it properly, by starting
from a whole-enterprise view.
36. Don’t panic! – it’s not as hard as it sounds…
BY Nate Steiner via Flickr
37. …it’s using what we already know,
going back to first-principles,
and applying architecture
to architecture itself.
38. ‘Whole enterprise’
doesn’t need to mean
whole-of-enterprise, every time…
…instead, it’s more about doing
every item of architecture
always in context of the whole.
(which means we first need to understand that whole…)
39. Understanding the scope…
‘Classic’ EA covers only the mid-range of abstraction, and often IT-only;
for most real-world EA, we need more range – top-down and bottom-up.
40. Linking architecture and design…
Architecture
emphasis on
Why and Who
Design
emphasis on
How and What
/ Where / When
43. “The art of scientific investigation”
Preface to WIB Beveridge, The Art of Scientific Investigation, Norton, 1957
“Elaborate apparatus plays an important part in the
science of today, but I wonder if we are not inclined to
forget that the most important instrument in research
is the mind of [the researcher].
https://archive.org/details/artofscientifici00beve
“We need to pay more attention] to the technicalities
of making the best use of the [mind] … the practice
and mental skills - the art - of scientific investigation.”
45. “Two points of view on architecture”
• Architecture is an exercise in truth
A proper building is responsible to universal knowledge
and is wholly honest in the expression of its functions
and materials
• Architecture is an exercise in narrative
Architecture is a vehicle for the telling of stories,
a canvas for relaying societal myths, a stage for the
theatre of everyday life
Chapter 84, in Matthew Frederick, 101 Things I Learned In Architecture School, MIT Press, 2007
- architecture is about structure
- architecture is about story
50. …never as mere projections of the machine…
CC-BY justin pickard via Flickr
51. Scope is always ‘the everything’…
(every context is within a greater context)
CC-BY Matt Brown via Flickr
…yet we get to choose effective scope-boundary…
54. Architecture is non-functional first
Two bridges:
The function is the
same for both;
the non-functionals
make the difference
CC-BY-ND ernieski via FlickrCC-BY hansfransen via Flickr
55. There is no ‘The Solution’…
CC-BY art_es_anna via Flickr…every context changes dynamically over time…
56. The Architect’s Mantra…
I don’t know…
(but I know someone who does, or how to find out)
It depends…
(and I know what it depends on, and why)
Just enough detail…
(and I know what the right level of detail would be)
62. What
Process
(Performing
…and make it fully fractal
Why
Purpose
(Forming)
Who
People
(Storming)
How
Preparation
(Norming)
What
Process
(Performing)
Outcome
Performance
(Adjourning)
63. Five Elements as strategy-action cycle
(overall cycle and relationships
need to be kept in balance)
64. Use the cycle for any scope, any scale,
any duration, any depth of detail,
nested fractally to any depth…
start a new nested iteration anywhere…
but always do the whole cycle
(because if not, it will probably fail…)
70. Why vision and values matter…
NOW!
before
certain uncertain
(depends on
personal connection,
personal trust)
(depends on sensing,
feeling, an often-literal
‘being in touch’)
PLAN
ACTION
edge of
action
situational awareness
(realities – What)
commander’s intent
(guidance – Why)
72. Who are the stakeholders?
A stakeholder
is anyone
who can wield
a sharp-pointed stake
in our direction…
CC-BY-NC-SA evilpeacock via Flickr
(Hint: there are a lot more of them
than we might at first think…)
74. The Start Anywhere principle:
everything connects to
everything else…
everything depends on
everything else…
- so we can start anywhere
and arrive at the same place!
91. Don’t skimp on this phase!
– it’s how we establish and prove
that we’ve delivered real business-value…
and how we build competence, expertise
and maturity in enterprise-architecture
93. Transformation – 0: Setup
• Business question: “How can
we turn round into
profitability?”
• Refined to: “How do we
enhance operational
effectiveness, to become
more profitable?”
• Initial enquiry-iteration
indicates competence for this
resides with operations-staff
Initial
enquiry
and setup
Why
Purpose
(Forming)
Who
People
(Storming)
How
Preparation
(Norming)
What
Process
(Performing)
Outcome
Performance
(Adjourning)
102. We can’t avoid the politics…
POLITICS
NO POLITICS!
Always be careful of the politics – it’s a crucial aspect of EA,
but it can kill business-transformation and more if not done well…
103. A real example:
assess Gartner’s Bimodal-IT
(duration: two days)
See also: http://weblog.tetradian.com/towards-a-whole-enterprise-architecture-standard-worked-example/
106. Use Holomap to map stakeholders…
(Context-specific version of Holomap instantiated from Holomap metatemplate,
to summarise the overall broader context for the business’ IT-organisation)
108. Assess with Backbone & Edge…
(Backbone & Edge visual-checklist
with crossmap to Simon Wardley’s
‘Pioneers, Settlers, Town-Planners’
model – includes example data-
types to illustrate ‘spectrum of
governance of governance’)
domain
CRM
product
catalogue
sales
process
backbone
person-
definition
business
standards
standard ops
procedures
edge
CRM
experiment
sales/
purchase
portal
Agile
product-dev
domain
ERP
facilities
mgmt
procurement
process
Agile-type
governance of
dependencies
Waterfall-type
governance of
dependencies
≈ “Town-Planners” ≈ “Settlers” ≈ “Pioneers”
(spectrum of ‘governance of governance’)
112. The moral of this tale:
beware of ‘solutioneering’!
– someone else’s supposed ‘best practice’
is rarely an exact best-practice
for our own business-context…
113. A real example:
restructure a design-firm’s
business-model
(duration: two hours)
See also: http://weblog.tetradian.com/2015/11/30/using-score-to-reframe-the-business-model/
124. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/Tetradian www.tetradian.com
Project By Date
VersionSCORE
strengths
Strengths / Services / Support
(existing capabilities and resources, potential for synergies)
challenges
Challenges / Capabilities-needed
(‘weaknesses’ indicate needed capabilities and resources)
options
Options / Opportunities and risks
(opportunity is also risk, risk is also opportunity)
responses
Responses / Returns / Rewards
(probable or emergent consequences of action or inaction)
effectiveness
default: efficient, reliable, elegant, appropriate, integrated
focus-question
126. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/Tetradian www.tetradian.com
Project By Date
VersionSCORE
strengths
Strengths / Services / Support
(existing capabilities and resources, potential for synergies)
challenges
Challenges / Capabilities-needed
(‘weaknesses’ indicate needed capabilities and resources)
options
Options / Opportunities and risks
(opportunity is also risk, risk is also opportunity)
responses
Responses / Returns / Rewards
(probable or emergent consequences of action or inaction)
effectiveness
default: efficient, reliable, elegant, appropriate, integrated
“Finding more and better clients”
not enough income;
not enough work I like
good at 3D modelling
need more expensive software?
I like doing research
are clients interested in research – I assume not…
jobs with research in them have often gained me new work
research is important to me
I’m good at textures, ‘realness’
is there a market for ‘realness’?
A/B test shows there is a market for ‘realness’
‘realness’ is important to me
not many people do what I do
real business-opportunity for concepts/visuals
with research and ‘realness’
my current software is enough
next task: clarify details of new business-model!
JC3DVIS business-model Tetradian
130. How architecture really works…
“When we started, I wanted a [predefined]
framework, but this has given me far more, helped
me to think. It’s a lot more exciting, to be honest.”
“What was useful was you set off sparks of thought
that got me connecting the dots.”
(And when we do it right, architecture can indeed be exciting!)
132. Remember the Architect’s Mantra…
I don’t know…
(but I know someone who does, or how to find out)
It depends…
(and I know what it depends on, and why)
Just enough detail…
(and I know what the right level of detail would be)
140. Summary
• Whole-enterprise architecture aims to create
effectiveness, always in context of the whole
• Methods and frames are consistent everywhere,
– consistent at every scope, scale and duration
– consistent pattern: Why, Who, How, What, Outcomes
• Address all aspects of context, including human
• Address all forms of complexity, dynamics etc
• Always oriented to real-world practice and results
142. Contact: Tom Graves
Company: Tetradian Consulting
Email: info@tetradian.com
Twitter: @tetradian ( http://twitter.com/tetradian )
Weblog: http://weblog.tetradian.com
Slidedecks: http://www.slideshare.net/tetradian
Publications: http://tetradianbooks.com
Books: • Real enterprise architecture: Beyond IT to the whole enterprise (2008)
• Bridging the silos: Enterprise architecture for IT architects (2008)
• Power and response-ability – the human side of systems (2003/2008)
• SEMPER and SCORE: Enhancing enterprise effectiveness (2008)
• The service-oriented enterprise: Enterprise architecture and viable services (2009)
• Doing enterprise-architecture: process and practice in the real enterprise (2009)
• Everyday enterprise-architecture: sensemaking, strategy, structures and solutions (2010)
• Mapping the enterprise: modelling the enterprise as services with the Enterprise Canvas (2010)
• The enterprise as story: the role of narrative in enterprise-architecture (2012)
Further information:
Hinweis der Redaktion
At present, most enterprise-architecture – such as in TOGAF, for example – will focus mainly on IT