Blog

Zachman International & FEAC Institute

Enterprise Architecture Misunderstandings
Defining Enterprise Architecture: Misunderstandings
John Zachman
Zachman International
There presently appears to be a gross misunderstanding about Enterprise Architecture among management... but also among the information community as well. Enterprise Architecture is NOT an Information Technology issue... it is a Management issue. It is likely perceived to be an Information Technology issue as opposed to a Management issue for two reasons:  
Continue reading
Architecture for CEO's
Big Architecture for CEOs
John Zachman
Zachman International
We've been having a great GovEA Conference this year- no shortage of good speakers, exhibits and vendors.I had the distinct pleasure of introducing my long-time friend and colleague, Scott Bernard who has been the U.S. Federal Chief Enterprise Architect for the last several years.
Continue reading
Enterprise Physics 101
Enterprise Physics 101
John Zachman
Zachman International
Architecture Is Not a New IdeaThe ideas about Architecture have been around for a long time. In the old days we used to call this kind of thing "Enterprise Analysis." The whole concept of Enterprise Analysis was, or is, you try to understand the Enterprise first, before you try to overlay infrastructure kinds of things against it. 
Continue reading
Information Revolution
The Information Revolution
John Zachman
Zachman International
Peter Drucker points out that that this is not the first Information Revolution, this is "The NEXT Information Revolution,"(1) the fourth Information Revolution.
Continue reading
Professionalism
EA Profession vs. Trade
John Zachman
Zachman International
I recently ran across some notes I took from a presentation at an IBM SHARE Conference, August 1991 that may shed some light on the idea of Professionalism. 
Continue reading
Commercial Computing
Intro to EA: The Paradigm Problem
John Zachman
Zachman International
 The advent of the commercial employment of computers in the 1950's ushered in an era of dramatic productivity improvements in both the private and public sectors. Clearly, using a computer to perform the processes of the business rather than people performing the processes is better because computers do things the same way every time whereas people make mistakes, computers perform in electrical (or electronic) cycle times and people in human cycle times and computers (in most cases) are cheaper than labor.
Continue reading
EA Misperceptions
Enterprise Architecture is an Enterprise issue, NOT an IT model-building exercise
John Zachman
Zachman International
The common perception (or more appropriately, mis-perception) of Enterprise Architecture in the general marketplace today is that it is one of an Information Technology (IT), model-building exercise. There is validity to that perception because, in order to engineer the Enterprise, the engineering design artifacts (the descriptive representations of the Enterprise) have to be created as they are the "raw material" for doing engineering work and the IT community seems to have the skills to produce those engineering design artifacts. 
Continue reading
Primative vs Composite
Zachman Enterprise Engineering - Primitive vs. Composite Review
John Zachman
Zachman International
It is useful to discuss the differences between Primitives and Composites because this is the paradigmatic problem of the Information community of the day. 
Continue reading
Reification
Zachman Framework Rows. What are they?
John Zachman
Zachman International
After 30 years of talking about this, I am still shocked at the predominant misconception that the Rows of Zachman Framework define "level of detail," or "waterfall," or "decomposition." This is just not true. The Rows of the Zachman Framework define TRANSFORMATION, NOT decomposition. Level of detail is defined in the HEIGHT of each cell (or Row), NOT the height of the Framework itself. While I originally I called the Rows "Perspectives," the underlying theory that defines the Rows is the philosophical concept of Reification. 
Continue reading
Comparison
How does the Zachman Framework compare to other frameworks?
John Zachman
Zachman International
I was asked by a PhD student to fill out a survey for research he was doing about the Enterprise Architecture Frameworks. This is a typical question I get, and it is no wonder because of the confusion about the word "Framework." Just because Enterprise Architect Frameworks have the word "Framework" in their titles, it doesn't mean you can compare the Zachman Framework with them. The Zachman Framework is the ontology. The other frameworks are METHODOLOGICAL frameworks, and the artifacts you create by following those methodologies potentially can be mapped back onto the Zachman Framework Ontology. 
Continue reading
Ontology
The Zachman Framework Requires ZERO Documentation
John Zachman
Zachman International
OThe Framework is the OntologyI have no idea where people get the idea that the Zachman Framework requires any documentation at all. The Zachman Framework is an ontology – the theory of the existence of essential components of an enterprise (actually, of anything) that warrant description in order to successfully create it, operate it or change it. Whether any or all of those components are described (documented, made explicit) is a function of a methodology and the choice of the Enterprise… not a requirement of the Framework.
Continue reading
Unfounded
Unfounded Reasons People Tell Me Why They Can't Do Enterprise Architecture
John Zachman
Zachman International
I have been working in the area of Enterprise Architecture for 40 years and people have been telling me (and are still telling me) the reasons why they think it is impossible to do Enterprise Architecture. I think I have distilled these reasons down to five basic objections. Let me enumerate their objections before I explain why these objections exist and why they are completely unfounded. 
Continue reading

Connect with us

15954 Jackson Creek Pkwy
Suite B463
Monument, CO 90132

  • dummyZACHMAN: (818) 244-3763

  • dummyFEAC: (703) 836-1002 

  • dummy

Newsletters

Enter your email address to stay up to date with our latest news.

Search