Enterprise Architecture by Example

Enterprise Architecture is the art of describing what is, imagining what could be, and understanding the gap between the two. We'll take an in-depth look at what this means and review a number of tools and processes to make that happen.

We’ll look at TOGAF, the Open Group’s famous process for pursuing missions in large organizations. We’ll study the process of moving from a baseline architecture to a target architecture and understanding the impact that doing that will have on the enterprise. This is the practice of gap analysis, and understanding to bridge that gap with processes and effort.

Along the way, I’ll tell you some stories from my own career, and from case studies about enterprise architecture. We’ll look at one of the largest enterprise architecture projects in the world involving the United States Marine Corps Recruiting system, and toward the end, we’ll take an in-depth look at the Apollo 13 disaster and how enterprise architecture related to the problems, processes and design that led to it.

We’ll look at creating high-quality enterprise artifacts that people will actually use, and how to select the right things to put in, and how to select the right things to leave out.