Attributes of successful business architects need to include the cultural and political enablers to build the business architect's success.

1. Building a Sustainable Architecture Practice
Jeff Scott
VP/ Business & Technology Strategy
MACC
Minneapolis
November 13th, 2014

2. Why am I here today?
The problem is never how to get new,
innovative thoughts into your mind,
but how to get old ones out.
- Dee Hock
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3. Some interesting facts
• Architects are among the best and brightest members of our
organizations.
• Architects have more latitude than other organizations to create their
role to be what they want it to be.
• Architects have fewer time dependent deliverables than most
organizations so they have the time they need to develop a high quality
product.
• Organizations are in desperate need of innovative business designs,
strategy implementation, and transformation management.
. . . and yet
• Architecture teams struggle for success.
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4. Today’s reality for enterprise architects
Delivering good
journeyman
architecture
work
20.0%
Struggling for
success
Failed
initiatives
Fulfilling the
architecture promise
40.0%
10.0%
30.0%
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5. Today’s reality for business architects
Delivering good
journeyman
architecture
work
Struggling for
success
Fulfilling the
architecture promise
Failed
initiatives
15.0%
5.0%
20.0% 60.0%
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6. Which is harder?
Build
Sell
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7. Cultural & political support are the biggest
barriers to business architecture success
March 2013 “The State Of Business Architecture And Business Architects In 2013”
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8. Cultural & political support are the biggest
enablers to business architecture success
March 2013 “The State Of Business Architecture And Business Architects In 2013”
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9. Our current paradigm is out of date
Current
State
Viewpoint
Architecture Governance
Principles
Reference
Architecture
Target
State
Framework Vision
Solution Architecture
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10. The architects view of enterprise architecture
Enterprise
Architecture
Business
Architecture
Application
Architecture
Information
Architecture
Infrastructure
Architecture
Security
Architecture
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11. A business view of enterprise architecture
Enterprise
Architecture
Strategy
People Financial Process Technology
Physical
Technology
Transportation
Manufacturing
Robotics
Infrastructure
Digital
Technology
Information
Applications
IT
Infrastructure
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12. We have met the enemy. . .
. . . and he is us.
• We want change to happen our way
• We ignore culture and context
• Technology is the center of our universe
• We place efficiency over effectiveness
• We want to control versus collaborate
• We focus on models versus results
• We want it to be easy for us
• We would rather be right than successful
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13. What’s different about successful
architects
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11/13/14

14. Recognize reality
• The CEO dictates the “what” but not the “how”
• Business is driven by financial objectives not strategic plans
• It’s always about making money
• Everything is a tradeoff
• There is never enough money to do it “right”
• Businesses do not make long term investments without a clear
and certain return
• Customer acceptance and/or time to market are the most
important project drivers
• People trust who and what they know
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15. Forget the theory – do what works
Yogi Berra
“In theory, there is no difference
between theory and practice. In
practice there is.”
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16. Solve the right problem
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Culture
and
Context
Problem
Symptom
SymptomSymptom
Symptom
Symptom
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17. Make others successful
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18. Deal with
culture and
context
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19. Take risks
Excellence
Failure
R
I
S
K
High
Low
High
P
R
E
S
S
U
R
E
S
Cultural Norms
Egos
Rules
Processes
Processes
Rules
Egos
Cultural Norms
Status Quo
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20. Attributes of successful architects
• A sound understanding of business principles and concepts
• An ability to think about business processes
outside of the technology context
• Knows how to listen. . . well
• A really strong consulting mindset
• Have a strategic point of view
• Can innovate on the fly
• Good at design thinking
• A catalyst for change
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21. Sustainability
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22. Sustainable practices have big aspirations
Highly productive organization
• Highly structured
• Detailed processes
• Roles are clearly defined
• Specialization reigns
• “I get the job done”
High performance organization
• Clear and wide boundaries
• Just enough process
• Roles are in flux
• Learning reigns
• “I am contributing to something”
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11/13/14

23. Sustainable practices are growing practices
Localized
value
Broad
value
Executive
management
Depth
Front line
management
Breadth
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24. The bottom line
• If you are not growing, you are dying
• The top three critical success factors are influence, influence,
influence
• Technology is NOT the center of the universe
• Architects design new worlds, engineers build the plumbing
• Value is in the eye of the customer
• Low hanging fruit is bitter, solve the right problems
• Culture eats strategy for breakfast
• Be so good the b%$!@&^s can’t ignore you
• Think BIG, start small, move F a s t . . . .
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25. Stay in touch
Jeff Scott
Email: Jeff.Scott@accelare.com Phone: +1-704-275-1725
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/accelare
www.linkedin.com/in/logicalleap
Web: www.accelare.com
Things you might be interested in:
The Business Architect blog @ http://thebusinessarchitect.accelare.com/
Ask me about: The business architect’s roundtable
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26. THANK YOU
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