Missing Pieces Found
I knew something was missing and had to go back to double-check to make sure I was doing the right things. The first time when reading Gartner’s articles about Business Outcome Driven EA(BODEA), it really made sense to me, then started to ask what then drives the business and how it should be defined. These two articles are a prequel to BODEA. All the things that drive business should be captured and documented in the form of ‘business context’ so that business leaders are informed and agree upon strategic decisions.
This business context becomes a vital part of the architectural process as it serves as a reference point(the missing piece) for all strategic and tactical decisions. By creating a comprehensive business context(BC), business and IT leaders can gain a unified understanding of the business’ direction and be aligned with the path forward.
This process ensures that the EA’s efforts are directly contributing to the achievement of business objectives, thereby demonstrating the business value of the EA. It promotes improved collaboration, communication, and alignment between the business and IT, making the EA a strategic partner in driving business outcomes.
Two practical & personal reasons why BODEA should be based on BC
- Promotes Skill Development: A business context-driven approach encourages enterprise architects to develop business engagement skills. Allowing EA team members to interface directly with the business context work promotes a deeper understanding of business drivers and facilitates better collaboration.
- Prevents Incomplete Missions: Distinguishing between business context and enterprise business architecture (EBA) prevents misalignment between business and IT. Without this distinction, there’s a risk that business context work might be mistaken for a complete business architecture, leaving crucial “architecting the business” work unsupported and unaddressed.
Being unable to demonstrate business aptitude is the last thing I want as a solution architect.