The technology architecture is one of the most important aspects for today’s businesses. Having a sound technology architecture is what aligns technology and business goals. Besides old school mom and pop shops, I want to believe that every business is incorporated with some type of technology. Therefore, I think enterprise architects can be a potential asset to any business. In Bruce Roberston’s Gartner article, Five Best Practices for Enterprise Technology, he discusses some of the most important best practices for EA teams. The main premise of the article is that having a focus on process and communication will increase improvements across any organization. I’ve heard of all of these best practices in some capacity through out my graduate career but I found the below to be the most interesting.
Get involved in projects early and often – Even though the concept is a given, I like how Bruce addressed assigning three touch points for the enterprise architecture team in any given project. By having three specific ways in which the team can be involved, hopefully it will strengthen the connection between the EA team and the organization. I can imagine it would be difficult to implement this into an organization that doesn’t currently have it but having the EA team kind of force its way into the solution life cycle will create opportunities for communication, guidance, and consultation in order to create some standardization.
Source:
Robertson, B. (2009, January 29). Five Best Practices for Enterprise Technology Architecture. Retrieved October 05, 2017, from https://www.gartner.com/doc/869120/best-practices-enterprise-technology-architecture