Architecture

Who Cares?

Architecture

• The fundamental organization of a system, embodied in 1) its components, 2) their relationships to each other and to the environment, and 3) the principles governing its design and evolution.

(from ANSI/IEEE 1471-2000)

Architect

• Establishes the basic structure of the system, defining the essential core design features and elements that provide the framework for all that follows.

(Wikipedia)

“What do you do?”“I’m a (fill-in-the-blank) architect.”

Enterprise Architect, Infrastructure Architect, Business Architect, Network Architect,Solutions Architect, Sanitation Architect, blah, blah, blah, …

Business Architecture

• The documents and diagrams that describe the architectural structure of that business.

Business Architect

• Develops the documents and diagrams which play a key role in shaping and fostering the continuous viability of the business (improvement, transformation, innovation)

• Acts as a change agent for the process.NOTE: Business needs should drive technology decisions (not the other way around).

Skills

• Deep business domain knowledge• Broad technology knowledge• Cross-functional process experience• Methodology skills• Transformation talents• Problem Solver• Effective communicator• Good people skills

Sometimes, stakeholders don’t really understand what they need …

Sometimes, engineers underestimate the stakeholders ability to understand …

No silver bullet

Not just 1 right business model diagram or template.

Portfolio of models and documents that speak to different audiences to address their issues and opportunities.

Some documents

• Diagrams• Requirements• Process Flows• Roadmaps• Priority Matrixes• Current state vs. Future state• Cost / Benefit• Bid sheet• …

BYU Triangle

Business

Solutions

TechnologyData

Current State vs. Future State

Cost/Benefit

A few more thoughts

PAGs

Understand your constraints

“Come now, we are men of action”Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt

Bite-size Chunks