Transformative Enterprise Architecture

An overview of the book by
Atul Apte
Copyright 2015 - 2016. All rights reserved. Atul Apte 1
TRANSFORMATIVE
ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE

Objective of this overview
• Provide an overview of what readers can expect to find in the book
– Transformative Enterprise Architecture
• Highlights of the key concepts in the form of pictures (from the
book) and few words
• A closer look at the heart of this book, which tries to convey the
urgency for radical changes in enterprise architecture organizations
• This book overview is intended for C-suite, business stakeholders,
corporate and IT decision-makers, and of course enterprise
architects (practitioners)

Living in age of transformation
• There is no doubt we live in the “age of transformation”
• This creates a need for establishing transformative organizations
• A transformative organization is able to guide the metamorphosis
of other organizations and IT ecosystems
• Transformative Enterprise Architecture (TEA) presents and
elaborates a straw-man formula for establishing a transformative
EA practice
• Transformative organization = resilient (core capabilities +
operational competencies + mission-critical capacity)

Section 1
TEA – AN APPROACH
FOR ESTABLISHING
TRANSFORMATIVE
ARCHITECTURE
PRACTICE

Chapter 1 – the context
• TEA is not a new methodology for enterprise architecture
• Does not describe a process for establishing a practice – rather describes
the “transformative” state of organizations
• TEA is not another architecture framework
• Does not define standardized structures, design patterns and other
constructs required to form a framework
• TEA is not a new organization maturity model
• Does not describe a prescriptive scale for assessing maturity of
organizations
• TEA is a straw-man model of architecture organizations capable of
operating successfully in the “age of transformation”

The straw-man model of a transformative
architecture practice
• Begins with an introduction to some new ground rules for
enterprise architecture discipline and EA organizations
1. Define the characteristics and dynamics of transformation
2. Rethink organization and IT ecosystem viewpoints
3. Develop a decision lens specifically for transformation strategies and
initiatives
4. Elaborate the transformation context for organizations and IT
ecosystems
5. Clarify and elevate the urgency for radical changes
6. Establish a preference for methodical transformations
7. Embody the principle of transformation by choice in organizations
• Some of these ground rules have pictures to clarify the point….

Ground rule #1 – unambiguous and salient
definition of transformation

Ground rule #2 – transformation emerges from
several different points of view

Ground rule #2 – ecosystem, an indispensable
viewpoint for transformation

Ground rule #3 – create lenses for enabling
stakeholder visibility into IT ecosystems

Ground rule #5 – a straw-man model for
determining urgency for transformation

Ground rule #7 – understanding the motivations
for transforming architecture organizations

Chapter 2 – reslience, the defining characteristic
of transformative entities (organizations)
• In the age of transformation, resilience has risen as a high priority
organizational characteristic @ par with efficiency, innovation, and
agility
• Resilience is a form of risk management that mitigates an
organizations vulnerabilities by increasing its tolerance for
unexpected events and outcomes
• Resilience is critical for managing simultaneous changes, one of the
likely consequence of radical change
• TEA makes an assertion that in the age of transformation, IT
organizations and IT ecosystems must be fundamentally resilient

TEA model for detecting vulnerabilities and
resiliency factors in EA organizations

Blueprint of a resilient enterprise architecture
organization

Section 2
CORE CAPABILITIES
OF TRANSFORMATIVE
ARCHITECTURE
PRACTICE

TEA emphasizes an increased focus on three
mission critical capabilities
• Role management
• Keeping stakeholders and decision makers aware of the fundamental roles
and responsibilities of an EA practice
• Value management
• Ability to establish a deeper understanding of risks and values in general
• Demand management
• Cultivating the habit of planned transformations in feasible terms
• The book provides detailed insights into each of the above three
capabilities

Chapter 3 – role management, a mission-critical
capability for retaining organizational relevance
• Effective and active role management is important for establishing
and maintaining the relevance of EA organizations
• Fulfilling the EA responsibilities requires appropriate engagement models
and operating methods, which tend to be unquie compared with other
organizations
• Key components of defining the organizational role of EA
• Scope of architecture disciplines
• Level of stakeholder concerns addressed by EA
• Type of decisions that EA organizations will focuses on
• Wiring the EA organization with end-to-end enterprise processes
and metric

A template for definining roles and
responsibilities of an EA organization

Components instrumental in defining roles &
responisibilities of EA organizations

Wire diagram of a relevant EA organization

Chapter 4 – value management, a hallmark of
resilient EA organizations
• Value management is truly game-changing and differentiates a
successful, resilient, and mature EA organizations
• Key concepts and characteristics about value management
• Value, value-realization lifecycle, value systems, value assessment, value
perspective
• Defining stakeholder value in architecturally significant and
stakeholder oriented terms
• What makes TEA definition of stakeholder value resilient?
• Definition of value systems

Defining stakeholder value in architecturally
significant and stakeholder-oriented terms

Value realization lifecycle – a pattern of value
gain and risk management states

Example of a value graph - primary outputs and
outcomes of a transformative EA practice

Value system definitions – one of the intended
outcomes of value management

Approach for assessing stakeholder-value of
architectural outputs and outcomes

Indices – a method for capturing assessed
stakeholder-value

Indices – a method for capturing assessed
stakeholder-value (cont…)

Communicating stakeholder value, a multi-
dimension effort

Communicating stakeholder value, a multi-
dimension effort (cont…)

Chapter 5 – demand management, planning
transformations of enterprise IT ecosystems
• Transformation of enterprise IT ecosystems is a major strategy and
planning initiative
• The probability of meaningful and impactful utilization of EA outputs is
neither guaranteed not consistent across strategy and planning cycles
• The idea of guiding planned transformations
• Competency for effective guidance of planned transformations
• Assessing generational impacts on value systems
• Complex IT ecosystem emerges from multigenerational value systems
• Transformation cycles – assessing an organizations capacity to
transform enterprise IT ecosystems

Complexities in planned transformation of
enterprise IT ecosystems

Transformation cycle – holistic view of the
capacity to implement transformation

Spectrum of changes and transformation cycle
planning patterns

Section 3
KEY OPERATIONAL
COMPETENCIES OF
TRANSFORMATIVE
ARCHITECTURE
PRACTICE

TEA focuses on the competencies that enable EA
organizations to guide and govern effectively
• Perspective-driven cohesive diagnosis, design, and decisions
• Transformation of enterprise IT ecosystems depend on diagnosis, design,
and decisions that occur in different organizations
• Decision analysis – a competency that’s growing in significance
• Understanding the effect of interrelated decisions is the first step in
improving architectural guidance and governance
• Decision oriented visualizations – accelerating the comprehension
and implementation of architecutral recommendations
• New forms of visuals and visualizations (organized visuals) is needed to
influence decision-makers

Chapter 6 – perspective-driven cohesive
diagnosis, design, and decisions
• Just as context is essential for transforming raw data into
meaningful information, perspective is essential for driving
cohesion among diagnosis, design, and decisions
• Introduction to higher-level architecture perpsectives
• Analogy of higher-level perspectives
• Strawman method for establishing higher-level architectural
perspectives
• Evolution of structured higher-level architectural perspectives
• Switching to higher-level perspectives, an important decision in
itself

Understanding the difference between points of
view, perceptions, and perspectives

The effect of higher-level perspectives: an
analogy

The benefits of switching to higher-level
perspective – an analogy

Iterative approach for structuring perspectives

The use of higher-level perspectives in
objectively overcoming different perceptions

Value perspective – a mechanism for driving
improved reasoning and sound decisions

Predefined construct for driving cohesive
diagnosis of risks in enterprise IT ecosystems

Example of constructs for driving cohesive
design of transformed enterprise IT ecosystems

Predefined constructs for cohesive, decision-
oriented reasoning and decisive conclusions

Chapter 7 – decision analysis: decision paths that
lead to transformative outcomes
• Decisions play a central role in transformation and governance of
• Impact of decision silos on transformation
• The notion of sound decisions
• Anchoring decisions, a pervasive challenge of decision management
• Decision chains – a concept for representing interrelated decisions
• Role of transformative architecture practice in decision analysis and
decision mapping
• Before, during, and after transformations

The fundamental significance of analyzing the
effect of “time” on decisions

Transformation clock – a metaphor for
discovering and mapping significant decisions

Generations of IT ecosystems – critical markers
for decision segments

Decision maps – capturing the essential outcome
of decision analysis

Chapter 8 – decision oriented visualization of
architectural recommendations
• Successful transformation of enterprise IT ecosystems depends on
(several) timely decisions
• Visualization (creating and organizing visuals) is the primary
mechanism for experiencing architectural recommendations
• Influencing stakeholders and decision-makers
• Complex nature of visualizing architectural recommendations
• Approach for effective visualization of architectural
recommendations
• Significance of effective visualizations

TEA model for visualizing architectural
recommendations

Visualizing structural and functional analysis of

Visualizing decision maps of different
transformation paths

Visualizing influencial factors of key decisions of
a decision map

Significance of improving visualization of
architectural recommendations

Section 4
MISSION-CRITICAL
CAPACITIES OF
TRANSFORMATIVE
ARCHITECTURE
PRACTICE

TEA highlights the need for establishing
appropriate capacities to guide transformations
• Capacity to model the lifecycles of organizations and IT ecosystems
is critical for discovering connections and dependencies between
entities (organizations and IT ecosystems)
• Capacity to capture and analyze lifecycles of complex entities
• Tooling and automation strategy for EA organizations
• A transformative architecture practice applies the principles of TEA to itself
• T&A strategy enables EA organizations to encode the architecture of
organizations and IT ecosystems
• Elevator speech – raising awareness for radical change in an
instance
• Transformation requires radical change and an elevator speech
summarizes the need for radical change

Chapter 9 – Modeling, utilizing, and managing IT
ecosystem and organization lifecycles
• Every entity (including organizations and IT ecosystems) have a
lifecycle
• There is greater significance in understanding the lifecycles of connected
entities
• Organizations and IT ecosystems are a form of connected entities
• Deeper dive into finite state machines – an ideal construct for
modeling lifecycles of connected entities
• Elementary logical machines
• Standard lifecycle states, lifecycle patterns, and in-state actions of
continuously improving (changing) entities

FSM – an appropriate technique for modeling
lifecycles of complex and connected entities

Lifecycle pattern of large and complex
organizations

Lifecycle pattern of large and complex IT
ecosystem

Definitions of lifecycle states for connected
entities

Lifecycle pattern of in-state entity actions

Chapter 10 – Tooling and automation for
facilitating improved guidance and governance
• EA organizations should apply the principles it uses to deliver
stakeholder-value internally
• Transformative architecture practice practices what it preaches
• Transformative architecture practice must have a tooling and
automation strategy to support, enable, and improve EA outputs
and outcomes
• Stakeholder and value orientation does have an impact
• Blueprint of an EA organizations IT ecosystem
• Prioritizing the core value networks of a transformative architecture
practice

Guidelines for defining an IT ecosystem data
model – foundation of T&A strategy

Importance of blueprinting an EA organizations
IT ecosystem

Example of an IT ecosystem blueprint for
transformative architecture practice

Chapter 11 – an elevator speech on TEA
• TEA sheds light on the new ground rules for practicing enterprise
architecture
• TEA highlights the need for EA practice to be resilient (not just
adaptable) and drive radical change
• TEA emphasizes the greater need for stakeholder and decision-
maker orientation of EA recommendations, outputs, and outcomes
• Business and IT organizations that establish a transformative
architecture practice have a distinct competitive advantage

Orientation of capabilities and competencies –
an indicator of organizational maturity

Parting words…
• Being adaptable and being resilient are two different things
• Being adaptable makes conforming to change (even unwanted change) easier
• Being resilient is essential to drive change in the face of challenging
circumstances and constant resistence to change (even good change)
• TEA will hopefully trigger deeper and meaningful changes within EA
organizations
• EA organizations need to get ahead and stay ahead of the organizational curve
• EA practitioners must be not only catalysts (accelerators) of change but also
drivers of radical change
• Authoring this book has been a great learning experience into the future
evolutions of enterprise architecture discipline
• Authors’ note – its pure coincidence that the elevator speech on TEA happens to be chapter
11  of the book

If you decide to buy the book …
• Available on www.amazon.com in
paperback and kindle edition
• Connect with the author:
• On linked In, handle = Atul Apte
• On twitter, handle = Leanarchitect
• Send your feedback by email to
atul.apte@rocketmail.com

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