New opportunities – Another great year to kick-start your EA program
It’s always exciting to initiate a new EA program, but we often wonder how companies manage to start or restart EA programs relatively frequently. What should make this year different from others?
If you identify any of the following patterns, we recommend reaching out. Not all tools can solve every problem, and not every approach leads to success! To start an EA program, let’s face it, you need to carefully consider the situation to align with the chances of being successful.
We recommend the following actions:
- A Charter with a Sponsor: Clearly define objectives for 100 days, 200 days, etc. in collaboration with a sponsor.
- Outcome-Driven Charter: Ensure the charter is not only outcome-driven and sponsor-aligned but also articulates who will benefit from the implementation – not just your group of architects but also end-users and stakeholders within your organization. Modelling is not an end in itself; it is a mean.
- Clear Value Measurement Approach: Establish a clear approach to measuring value. Define the success criteria for the mentioned program. It can be a simple measure, but measure something that correlates with success from a sponsor’s perspective.
- Explore Beyond Traditional Tools: Disregard traditional EA tools and explore collaboration tools and low-code tools. The choice depends on the objectives. Not all tools can solve everything.
We often refer to the situational assessment as the core starting point. It highlights what you do well, what you should do but aren’t, and what you do excessively with limited outcomes.
For example, if you have multiple groups using outdated tools without a unified web portal and clear sponsorship, a cyclic pattern emerges.
With the cyclic pattern we mean you replace the EA team or EA tool typically once every few years, again and again. If you purchase another tool without considering the situation, you’ll likely have 1-3 years before another tool is procured because the “initial tool didn’t work”. It’s not the tool that’s wrong; it’s the typical lack of charter and lack of assessment of which technology suits enterprise architecture in your context.
Learn from the rapid EA restarts
Organisations undergoing rapid “EA restarts” with new personnel often replace one tool with another due to changes in staff. A well-integrated solution can withstand job rotations without concerns. The most common scenario is a lack of understanding between architects’ modelling aspirations and stakeholder expectations for decision insight. If stakeholders seek decision insights, then what should you produce?
Modelling isn’t the end; those who believe it is they are bound to be recycled regularly. Larger organisations need an EA function, but if it moves too slowly or focuses on the wrong aspects, value is not perceived, and the function gets recycled.
EA doesn’t have to be complicated; simplifying it can lead to value creation and increased respect for making architecture part of daily processes.
To avoid falling into the deep with wall-to-wall inventories of detailed diagrams, focus on creating an overall view of the organisation or starting with e.g. value streams or business capability maps and a list of business applications or services.
Today, modern low-code apps like Next-Insight can handle such tasks out of the box, eliminating the need for expensive architects to draw what can be data-driven and onboarded in few weeks.
Working with EA maturity in this way allows for gradual improvement, creating an “EA journey.” No tool can help you skip maturity steps, but we can guide you to a safe journey to next-level of maturity by assessing the situation; propelling your EA program to become a journey of value sprints.
What to consider
If you are considering a new program to recycle your EA and business architecture, here is a short summary of recommendations:
- Situational Assessment: Gather input to conduct a situational assessment. We can help you to provide one.
- Charter with a Sponsor: Develop a charter with a sponsor, clarifying objectives for 100 days, 200 days, etc.
- Alignment with Approach: Ensure the charter aligns with your approach, stakeholders, and target end-users. Align the perception of “value” with how it should be perceived.
- Embrace Modern low-code Apps: Seek help to transition to modern low-code apps, skipping older technologies, and focusing on proven web technology that can scale faster as you onboard more end-users. This is where we could recommend on Next-Insight, the #1 low-code app for business and enterprise architecture.
- Governance Support: Ensure the charter supports a governance approach with IT decisions, RACI, etc.
- Prioritize Quick Wins: Start with overall capability maps, a list of applications, and governance rather than creating principles and guidelines. Prioritize quick wins for appointed stakeholders. Get this into the Charter.
- Simple KPI’s: Establish simple KPI’s that can be tracked to meet charter objectives. Review and adjust activities at the end of days 100, 200, and 400 to steer towards the success of EA.
At Staun&Stender we are confident how to ensure success, it is about many early wins to gain impact.
Reach out for a dialog; then we can assess your situation and help you get well started with EA in 2024. Your preferred EA Partner.
For #1 low-code SaaS to EA Management, visit Next-Insight
For advice to get started, let’s talk
