This page is an output of the Itana Spring Face2Face 2016 meeting, contributed to the Itana wiki by the meeting attendees.

Definition

Process to assemble and lead the right mix of people in creating an architectural representation which helps meet objectives for solving a problem or satisfying a need.  An artifact helps the right people have the right conversation about the right problem.  An architectural representation (AKA artifact) may take the form of a one-pager or a composite of several artifacts.

The created artifacts are often used independently or in composite form to sell an idea

Outputs

• One or more artifacts

• Buy-in from the participants that artifact reflects what they want

• Agreement on the owner and/or steward of the artifact

• A maintenance plan for the artifact and/or lifecycle for the artifact

Context

• You’ve already examined the problem or need and decided that you want to create some kind of document/artifact to help define, understand or solve a problem.

• You’ve identified the objectives you want to meet and determined the appropriate artifact(s) to meet them.

• You’ve already done the pre-work to get your organization to agree to support the creation of the artifact.

• The activities necessary to create individual artifacts are provided on the ITANA wiki page for each (see Architecture Methods).

Examples

• Create a roadmap for a technology

• Create a capability map for an area

• Use brick diagrams to map your infrastructure strategies

• Document departmental strategies with a Mesa.

• Visualize relationships between capabilities, services, and technology

Activities

• Necessary supporting activities

• Right-size the artifact to meet objectives

• Identify participants and roles

• Champions - who will provide top cover?

• Note: the champion should have been defined as part of the problem definition, before deciding on which document to use to help solve the problem.

• Stakeholders - interested parties with something to gain or lose

• A Stakeholder Analysis can be useful to identify which stakeholders should participate.

• Subject Matter Experts/Knowledge Workers - who can help define and validate actual content?

• Architects - lead the organization and representation of artifact content

• Facilitators - someone with expertise in managing working sessions to achieve objectives

• Depending upon the size and availability of participants, it may make sense to create a subgroup to build and revise the artifact

• Motivate participants

• Build relationships

• Pre-meetings to prime key people

• Focus on value proposition and not the act of creating an artifact

• What are we trying to achieve

• How does the artifact encourage us to have a shared vision on what we are trying to achieve

• Set time commitment expectations (and allocate/free time, if needed)

• Educate people about the artifact, its purpose, goals, lifecycle, etc.

• For artifacts that have pages on the Itana wiki, the information for that artifact should be on that page.

• Create the artifact*

• This process results in a complete artifact and in buy-in of the participants

• Align the artifact content with overall strategy/effort

• Set up/reserve space, such as collaboration space or meeting rooms, if needed.

• Define collaboration rules, if needed (e.g. the standards used for sharing/editing a google doc).

• Working meetings

• Planning/managing meetings

• Generating ideas

• Getting consensus

• Sharing knowledge

• Polish artifact (led by steward outside of meetings) 

• Gain consensus and acceptance from participants

* For artifacts that have pages on the ITANA wiki, specific activities helpful in creating that artifact should be on that page (see Architecture Methods).

• Artifact Maintenance

• Agree on a maintenance approach

• Assign owner/steward appropriate to the expected volatility and life-span of the artifact

Related Skills

(to be completed)

Possible Next Steps

(to be completed)