Enterprise Architecture

Good architecture shouldn't need a carrot or a stick

Last post I wrote about how you can approach buy in for your architecture. …

Governance: Documentation to support projects

Two weeks ago I wrote an article about governance and documentation on an organisational scale. This is the follow-up post that focuses on the project scale. You could just read this post, but …

Governance: Documentation as a Knowledge Network

If you’ve known me for long enough, there will be a point where I’m going to pitch you the concept of Obsidian. I adore that program¹, I …

Systems Thinking in Enterprise Architecture

I first learned of systems thinking in the domain of city planning, and that is apparently also where the idea comes from. It was described to me in the context of building new residential buildings …

The middle ground between canonical models and data mesh

Some years ago I worked with a scale-up that was really focused on the way they handled data in their product. They extensively argued over data language, had value objects everywhere, explicit models …

The death of the enterprise service bus was greatly exaggerated

Every six months or so I read a post on sites like Hackernews that the enterprise service bus concept is dead and that it was a horrible concept to begin with. Yet I personally have great experiences …

What is a Value Stream and how does it relate to a Value Chain

Organizations often use “value stream” and “value chain” as interchangeable labels. It’s not the biggest architectural drama in the world, but it’s still something that always annoys me a …

Choosing your starting line in enterprise architecture

I’ve been part of the creation of five enterprise architecture offices in my life. Some I’ve led, others I’ve simply been part of.

If you start up an enterprise architecture office, you have two …

The CMDB as an architecture source

Every company that I’ve helped start their enterprise architecture practice so far, always tell me that they might not have architecture setup yet, but they do have a ton of information in the …

Architectural debt is not just technical debt

When I was a developer, half of our frustrations were about technical debt (the other were about estimates that are seen as deadlines).

We always made a distinction between code debt and architecture …

Following processes won't make you a robot

Every time I go to teams and start talking about process mapping and standard operating procedures (SOP) I notice an undeniable amount of unease like it just got a few degrees colder.

What people hear …

Pace layering an application portfolio

In every organization I’ve worked with, there’s always been a handful of core applications, central, timeworn systems that quietly hold the business together.

Knowledge of these systems often lives in …

The real ask

One of my mentors, Steven Caus, always taught me the concept of “the question behind the question”: The question we receive …

Chesterton’s Fence and paralysing your organization

Some years ago I worked at a place that had, buried deep in the codebase, a service running that combed through the central data warehouse and flagged certain users. One through seven, except four.

A …

The cost of ownership of a 1000 applications

Cost reduction is one of the main focuses of so many companies out there today. The market is not great, and that is the moment companies take a deep look at the financials of it all.

One of the first …

What's the role of software in an organization

Last week, while sitting in a bar, I had a chat with a good friend of mine about the role of software in an organization. I stated that the primary role software plays in an organization is to …

People, Processes, Technology and Information

In my last post¹, I briefly talked about how I include information (PPTI) in my operating model (PPT), and I even promised to write a post about it. This is that post.

People, processes, and …

Now without vague hand waving: What is Enterprise Architecture

One of the most confusing things about architecture is the vagueness of the naming surrounding it. This is true not only for non-architects, who often don’t really know in detail what all the …

Business strategy is like a lizard

Well, the real title was going to be “Business strategy is like a lizard: It leaves behind its tail while it grows a new one,” but that was just too long.

Strategy never exists in …

What's the use of Archimate anyway

Last week, I discovered a new podcast called The Enterprise Architecture Experience. …

Enterprise architectural skunk works

Most big organizations I’ve worked with are more akin to an ecosystem of multiple smaller companies. These smaller companies all share the same umbrella of the bigger total but internally …

Mapping out an organization is a massive task

A big part of enterprise architecture is keeping your architecture model up to date. Without this model, it’s impossible to do your real job in advising projects, strategy and general company …

Modeling data and information in an organization

The last weeks I’ve been focusing a lot on the data and information models in our architecture. Organizations have so much data flowing around that it’s hard to effectively map it all out. …

Turning Complexity into Manageable Complication

Have you ever made bread before in your life? Like from start to finish? It’s not a difficult thing to do. You start off with flour, yeast, salt, and water. Combine them, let that dough sit for …

Enterprise architecture needs to get better at architecture strategy

I’ve been reading a lot of strategy books these last weeks ¹ (also two James Bond books, but that is probably not related to this post), and I’ve been trying to tie it to my everyday work …

Taming Chaos: Handeling vendor based architecture

I’ve noticed a huge shift in the architecture of big companies in the last few years: companies are shifting from in-house development to third-party applications, shedding the traditional …

I think we should reimagine how we see architecture principles

To me, it always seems strange that in a world that thrives on innovation and constant change, every architectural department tries to implement a rigid set of principles that stay in place for years. …

Internal vs consulting Enterprise Architecture

Today, I want to discuss the two big experiences you can have as an Enterprise Architect: working internally at a company and being a consultant. I’ve done both in the past, so I hope to bring some …

Architecture in an agile world

Before we start talking about architecture, it’s a good idea to lay out the foundation of this discussion first. I know there are a million articles about agile and how it will all save us from …

Business Capabilities, how I like to use them

So we should probably start with this right? Business capabilities (further in this article referred to as capabilities) are the backbone of enterprise architecture. They are also, sadly, one of the …