2010 January | Enterprise Architecture in Higher Education

Lecturing on EA @ BCIT – Rethinking my Approach

enterprise architecture, higher education, strategic planning 5 Responses »

Jan 262010

Tonight, I had the privilege of being a guest lecturer on Enterprise Architecture for a class at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. My colleague Brian Hosier invited me to give an overview of EA for his students.

I had to do some serious chopping of my 2 hour workshop to get things down to a manageable timeframe. Even then, I felt extremely rushed and barely skimmed the surface of all that Enterprise Architecture is. The class went well and I got great questions from the students. I hope this short introduction to EA helped some of them think about the big picture.

As I was presenting, I realized how much our EA practices are IT influenced. This is a natural thing being that we grew EA out of IT and IT is where it primarily resides. As I presented some of the artifacts we developed, it became apparent that I need to rethink how to present EA to newbies. After a bit of theory and overview, I presented how EA can be applied strategically, tactically and then a bit on business architecture. The problem was that for each area except Business Architecture, my examples were very technology focused.

I will make time to review my course material to see how to restructure it to better communicate the complete breadth of Enterprise Architecture. Perhaps reviewing my notes from the Carnegie Mellon Certified Enterprise Architect program I completed in 2009 will help. I need to find more examples of artifacts that are more people and process oriented. In today’s fiscal climate, perhaps more focus on cost savings by focusing on managing complexity and its impact on organizations.

The Center for the Advancement of the Enterprise Architecture Profession

enterprise architecture, leadership 1 Response »

Jan 252010

Early in 2009, a group of Enterprise Architecture thought leaders gathered together to begin a focused advocacy program for our profession. They created the Center for the Advancement of the Enterprise Architecture Profession (CAEAP).

Vision:CAEAP seeks to be the organization responsible for the Enterprise Architecture Profession. In this capacity, CAEAP acts as the primary advocate for the Profession, addressing the public at large, enterprises the Profession serves, and the Profession itself, to which Enterprise Architects belong through their practice.

Mission:

CAEAP promotes the professional status of Enterprise Architects and works to ensure the legitimacy of the Profession by distinguishing it from other professions and non-professionals (consultants, employees, and supporting roles). CAEAP is the public face of the Profession and is further charged with maintaining its consistent view towards the public, enterprises, and its professional members. The aim is:

Sustainability of the profession

Create brand recognition for the profession

Deliver consistency through accreditation

Support professional autonomy

AND provide answers for the public . . .

Clarify in the public eye as to what a professional EA contributes

Ensure the public’s trust in EA as a profession

Assure the public they’re dealing with a competent EA professional

Goals

Become the advocacy organization that is responsible for determining ethical behavior within the profession of enterprise architecture.

Provide access and maintain the standards of education and experience that are necessary conditions for professional competency and entry into the profession of enterprise architecture.

Determine the level of regulatory self governance for the profession of enterprise architecture that provides professional guidance higher than those established by general law.

Define and enforce professional rules and standards for enterprise architecture that are necessary to protect and benefit the public.

Disciplinary action for the profession of enterprise architecture that includes public reporting and, if necessary, expulsion from registrations should the ethics, rules, and standards not be observed or if work is not finished in a professional manner.

Ensure that there is fair and open competition within the profession of enterprise architecture.

Provide the consistent leadership required for public acceptance of the enterprise architecture profession.

Core Values

1.       Integrity,

2.      Leadership,

3.      Excellence, and

4.      Ethical Behavior.

The group created a Constitution, an EA Professional Oath, an EA Professional Doctrine, an EA Profession Roadmap and EA Value Maps.

Membership is free and you can sign up here.

The main focus of the CAEAP currently is to create a Professional Practice Guide for Enterprise Architecture. I am contributing towards this effort as a Chapter Lead for two chapters of the PPG: Read more...

Starting Your EA Practice – what roles would you pick?

enterprise architecture 12 Responses »

Jan 212010

In early December, I spent 2 days at the Microsoft Canadian College Update. I sent Nick Malik (@nickmalik) a message and we met for lunch. I really enjoy catching up with other Enterprise Architects and Nick is top of my list. We talked about a broad range of topics like how EA can help with downsizing, EA models and data, Center for the Advancement of the Enterprise Architecture Practice and Twitter.

The topic of forming an EA team came up. “How would you staff up an EA team?” Nick challenged me by asking “Would your first hire be an Enterprise Architect?” At first I thought, yes of course an EA office needs EA’s in it. Well not so fast … if the EA Office was being put together for the first time in an organization, what does it really need to do?

Show value early and often to the organization. In order to do this, an Enterprise Architecture team needs to gather data and a way to link into projects.

Nick strongly suggested that instead of hiring another EA, I should think about hiring a project manager role and an accounting/data analyst role. (This assumes that you as the Chief Architect will do the EA work yourself.) So, if you have the opportunity to build an EA Office think long and hard about what you need to do and the roles you need to accomplish your goals. As I am writing this, I really think I need to revisit my work on Enterprise Architecture Capability Maturity Models.

So what roles would you pick? Please let me know.