Blog Introduction
I searched around for a while before deciding to start my own blog on Enterprise Architecture. It is interesting to find the dead blogs on Blogger, WordPress and other sites that have Enterprise Architecture in their titles. Like all architecture practitioners, I have opinions about how EA should be carried out, and it seems a little presumptuous to blog about EA. Then, there is the notion of shared experience and support related to growing the community.
There is blatant purpose in this blog. I am working with Chris Armstrong, and the other great people at Armstrong Process Group. As we grow the EA business at APG, I will use this blog to build our brand. We have definite ideas about the practice of EA and how it needs to mature toward more formality and rigor. We bring to EA all of the disciplines learned through implementing formal software development processes. APG believes in formal modeling usage in EA. In a global environment that crosses time zones and cultures, ambiguous textual descriptions of Enterprise Architecture content and process is no longer viable. Additionally, the demands of corporate governance and the critical role EA plays in corporate strategy deployment require EA practitioners to be more formally governed. It’s time to grow up.
My career wound its way through technical sales support to the early days of adding the IT Architect disciplines to software technical sales at IBM. I participated in the IT Architect profession after my certification in 2001 as a Security Architect. I have been active in The Open Group since 2000, and I was honored to serve the Architecture Forum as the Vice-Chair for North America in 2004 and 2005, and the Chair in 2006. From 2001 through 2004 I lead the effort to bring the IT Architect Certification program from IBM to The Open Group with the help of many friends.
I retired from IBM in April of 2007. I continue to participate in the IT Architect Certification board of The Open Group ITAC program, and I have an appointment as a Senior Research Fellow at Boston University School of Management. I now have time to focus my full attention to the areas of EA that I believe are critical.
I make no promises about frequency of updates to this blog, except to say that I know blogs are like sharks, they must continue to move forward or die. I also believe in community participation, so my ranting will be in vain unless it is part of a dialog.
