In an era where digital transformation is not just a buzzword but a central tenet to organizational longevity, the enterprise architect (EA) has transitioned from being a back-office role to a critical advisor to leadership. Their relevance in steering the company's strategic trajectory is paramount. Here's my perspective:

As professionals, we understand and appreciate the need for continual professional development (CPD). Associations, training organizations, etc. exist to help facilitate this need. However, one of the most important aspects of a well-balanced approach to CPD is having access to a diversity of thought.

Relative to Dewey's conceptual innovations, in addition to his observation that the secret to the whole thing lies in the coding and classification of the data, Dewey identified and formalized the Process orientation in the late '60s long before Mike Hammer and Jim Champy popularized the concepts of Process Reengineering in their 1993 book. 

To return to the basic point ... the kind of descriptive representations (models) you need for engineering are different from the descriptive representations (models) you need for manufacturing.

Architecture: AbstractionsYou can classify the set descriptive representations of anything (buildings, airplanes, locomotives, battleships, computers, etc.) in a two dimensional classification structure, a "schema". 

Architecture is a SET of Descriptive Representations.I the object you are trying to create is simple, you can see the whole thing at the level of definition required to create it ... like a log cabin ... or a computer program ... you don't need Architecture. All you need is a tool, like an axe of a compiler or something and some raw material like a forest, or some data or something, and some time, then build log cabins or write computer programs.

I think before we can define Enterprise Architecture, we need to ask ourselves the first question: "what is Architecture?"Architecture ... what is it?Some people think the Roman Coliseum is Architecture. This is a COMMON MISCONCEPTION!Notice: This same mis-conception about Enterprises is what leads people to misconstrue Enterprise Architecture as being big, monolithic, static, inflexible and unachievable ... and it takes too long and costs too much!

In the Information Age, the characteristics we understand to date are complexity and change. The customer wants a product specific to his or her specification... a custom product. The customer is a market of one. And, the customer may not even know what they want until they want it and then they want it now... immediately. And, if you can't produce to those requirements, click! 

My goodness! I'm so sorry to take so long with another blog! I'll bet this year is the most people we have Zachman Certified ever! HUNDREDS of folks this year so far!

My goodness! Cort and I have been teaching non-stop! We have Zachman Certified just over 65 people in the last month!OK, on with this blog...Clearly, you have to change the strategy... to an Assemble-to-Order strategy... Mass-Customization, "custom products, mass-produced in quantities of one for immediate delivery"... but this is a completely different kind of a business.

Initially, the customer is willing to accept these limitations... they don't know any better. But, over long periods of time, 50 or a hundred years, they get frustrated and the drive the manufacturer out of a Job Shop into a Standard Production Environment (mass production) in order to solve the problems. Actually, the problem is the strategy. 

WOW! We have been Zachman Certifying so many people these last 2 months, I feel like I have been on the road non-stop! Sorry to take so long with this next part of the blog!Go back to the Toyota illustration... I want to develop a pattern, a Strategy Pattern, for you. I am sure it is a universal pattern. I use Manufacturing, tangible products, because they are easier to conceptualize than intangible products like services but I am sure this is a universal pattern