Architect's Corner!

It's already 12 days since the New Year began. The need for managing change and demand for quick response to the ongoing challenges are mounting pressure on time and resource utilization. Though some of the disciplines like “management” (invented by Peter Drucker nearly 70 years back) and “enterprise architecture” (invented by John Zachman nearly 34 years) are handy, people around us make it difficult sometime ;-).

Time is one of the commodities which seem to be in the short supply. Unfortunately, I have not been regular with blogs in the last three months. Even though every week there are 2 to 3 very exciting ideas and problems that we get to work on, and every time I feel like sharing that with you, unfortunately lack of time and travel has prevented it.

It is exciting to know the way enterprise architecture has got prominence in the boardroom discussions. But, what is not exciting is the quality of the work being done. But, isn't it very natural as both the people and the body of knowledge are evolving day by day.

Last year, I had chance to spend good time with legendary John Zachman. We got to discuss several issues related to how the industry is preparing in response to the dynamics of economic uncertainty, created by ongoing changes. Those of you who have had the chance to interact with John Zachman will agree that every minute spent with him is enriching, inspiring. To start the New Year, I thought it is a good idea to put together some of the comments and the quotes by John Zachman.

The comments are from John and reflect his insight into Enterprise. There are 10 such quotes. These quotes are related to issues like enterprise objective, status of "strategy" within the enterprises, the need for traceability across the enterprise structural elements, how does IT (Information Technology) people perceive enterprise objective, how does a CEO of an enterprise perceives IT, need for simulation to understand impact analysis, idea vs. instantiation, changing external environments, complexity management, what makes the enterprise dysfunctional, need for architecture and of course the idea of lean enterprise.

Hope you will find these quotes very handy and will act as smart answers for some of the very difficult questions that your peers pop at you.

Quotes by John Zachman

1		Most people who come from IT today are thinking of building and running systems and not about engineering and manufacturing enterprises. My argument here is that the end objective is to engineer and manufacture the enterprise, not simply to build and run systems
2		Here’s what your typical CEO says to their IT team, “I have spent a lot of money in IT but I don’t think what you guys are doing with that money is in line with the plans I have for the enterprise.” When your CEO thinks this way, something is seriously wrong.
3		Architecture enables you to accommodate complexity and change. If you don't have Enterprise Architecture, your enterprise is not going to be viable in an increasingly complex and changing external environment!!
4		No one would knock down walls in a building indiscriminately without understanding the building architecture. You could make apparently small changes and the whole building potentially could collapse. Similarly, you could make apparently small changes to an enterprise and if you didn’t understand the Enterprise Architecture, the apparently small changes could potentially render the whole enterprise dysfunctional."
5		We can simulate performances of airplanes in 3D, why can’t we do it with enterprises? This is where we should be heading – a stage where we can actually simulate how certain changes or decisions will affect the enterprise.
6		The problem is that the enterprise strategy is not clearly manifested ... there is an inordinate focus on optimizing current performance at the expense of investing in the future.
7		Zachman Framework! Yes, it is a schematic representation of the various components in an enterprise and their relation with each other. These include inventory, network, process transformation, business concepts, etc. The framework also tells you how a change in any one component or artifact will affect other artifacts related to it.
8		The process of converting an idea into reality needs to go through a set of transformations – you must name it, define it, create the semantic constructs of the concepts, then you have to represent it; because you are dealing with engineering designs; specify it, based on the implementation technology, then you configure the tooling and then you instantiate the idea. That is, you need to go through this process IF you care that the instantiation bears any resemblance to the idea that you had in the first place.
9		Few enterprises today have descriptive representations that depict how the enterprise works. Therefore, change can only be accommodated by trial and error. As complexity and the rate of change increase, risk of trial and error increases. Architecture provides the structure to predict the impact of change, reduce the risk and maintain enterprise viability in a changing environment
10		Enterprise Architecture is useful in those areas which minimize general operating costs, change enterprise with minimum time disrupt to cost, and are able to dynamically adapt to demands placed on an enterprise by the external environment. Make it lean, mean and change it with minimal cost

How to use these quotes:

This time I have chosen quotes of John which reflect on the inherent complexity in running and managing enterprises as well those which represents the Information Technology dilemma. You can go further and use these quotes to create “to do list”. Here, is summary table for easy reference.

Roles	Quotes	Remarks
If you are sponsor of architecture initiatives	#3,#4,#5	Prioritize your key driver for architecture initiatives
If you are a practicing architect	#7,#8	Understand what it takes to transform “idea” to “reality”
If just you want to enhance your understanding	#9	What is Architecture?
CEOs, Business Heads of various industries	#6,#10	Why Enterprise Architecture?
IT folks	#1,#2	Hope we could change this perception in near future ;-)

Please go ahead and download these quotes and use them as a reference. Also, you may like to include them in your presentation and education programs within your organization.

These quotes are available for download in PPT, PDF and video. There is also a flip book created for these quotes. Of course, there is a mobile version as well, just in case you would like to browse with your smart phones.

I hope you will like these quotes and enjoy sharing with friends and peers. Wishing you a very happy and fun-filled 2012.