Logistics

  • 09 December 2022

Discussion

  • The University of Washington uses an elegant backlog-based process to manage EA work, casting potential initiatives into an assessment frame bounded on one dimension by readiness and on the other dimension by value.  This is "EA 2.0" for UW, and there is now a deliberate (and big) transition happening to move away from ad hoc engagements and more into a service-delivery model where EA is the heartbeat of the institution:
  • For this shift at UW to be successful (the same applies to all of our institutions) will require a significant shift in appetite and maturity of the overall governance.
  • Gartner has described this shift from back-office traditional EA through to business-outcome-driven EA through to EA as an internal business/management consultancy:
  • ...and, also from the Gartner research note linked below, here is the flywheel at the heart of communicating the value proposition:
  • ...and, from the same research note, the three-mountain view of ESG = Environmental, Social, Governance = and the importance of EA to driving those things:
  • There was a poll run before this Itana session, and the questions in it were based lightly on that Gartner "Leadership Vision for Enterprise Architecture 2023" piece, and the results from the poll (sixteen respondents) are summarized in the bullet-points below below.
  • What trends?
  • What actions?
  • What longer-term shifts?
  • What are you expecting to be doing more of?
    • Strategic thinking
    • Service and application rationalization
    • Leadership of the wider architecture practice
    • EA tools
    • Skilling up
    • Governance
    • Standards and best practices
    • Business case development
    • Service roadmaps
    • Data architecture and platforms
    • Agile approach
    • Full range of architecture (technical to strategy)
  • What are you expecting to be doing less of?
    • Project participation
    • Technical architecture
    • Solution-specific designs
    • Technical reviews
  • Some general comments raised in open discussion:
    • digital transformation is happening everywhere in way and another, but does IT have the visibility and reputation of being more than a "utility provider" to have a seat at the table?
    • enterprise architecture has a role to play providing the bridge between strategy and execution
    • enterprise architecture has many "flavors" and what will work at your institution depends a lot on the maturity and appetite and nature of your institution
    • how much resource is needed to staff an enterprise architecture practice that is future-facing and service-focused and management-consultancy oriented in what it does?

Further Information

Resources

  • The Google Slides deck from this session is available at https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hzI34EjprnZUCYt3t8OgB1x0BjSIGcT0zlKroqSo4PQ/
  • See also the Itana presentation from April 2021, Managing EA Work at The University of Washington, 2021-04-16 Managing EA Work and Communicating Up at UW

  • Blosch, M., Brand, S., & Frangou, A. (2022) Leadership Vision for 2023: Enterprise Architecture, Gartner Research, Article ID #G00757620, available at — Enterprise architecture leaders are key enablers for digital business — accountable for helping the enterprise balance risks and benefits. This Leadership Vision will help in planning for 2023 and in presentations to leadership, peers and teams.

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