On Friday, I hit an anniversary of sorts … it has been 3 years since my organization formally established the Enterprise Architect position, that I have been in. In Sept 2007, I moved from a senior staff member to management and was able to elevate EA leadership to the management level. Even though I feel like I have been working on architecture for over 15 years, I really did not have a formal name for it. Thank you John Zachman!
Since then we have come leaps and bounds, from only having a vague understanding of what EA was or could be and now having it embedded into our processes and culture.
EA practices that we value:
- embedding EA approvals into Project Management Processes to be able to guide technology adoption and manage complexity
- embedding EA approvals into Change Management Processes to ensure implementation of new technology and changes to existing technology reliably deliver core services
- embedding EA reviews for capital requests that come to the CFO’s office for approval
- creating a Technology Watcher role to build EA practices and broaden the people working on EA
- building a 3 year technology plan with EA guiding principles at its core
- recently, doubling the EA team with the creation of a Solutions Architect role and hiring a senior staff member into the position
- building collaborative relationships around our EA methods with our partner institutions in higher education
Personally, this has been the most challenging and rewarding years of my career to date. I will continue to looks for ways (using EA) to make our IT Services department the trusted and valued partner to our clients at BCIT.
I can’t wait to see what the next 3 years will bring!
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Leo de Sousa
