Pragmatic Enterprise Architecture

EnterpriseArchitecture(EA)unitscanbefoundinmostmajorenterprisestoday.This is encouraging for a relatively new field which was only formally recognized in the 1980s. Indeed, there is now a widespread recognition that EA is a very important undertaking that can have far-reaching benefits for the organizations that embrace it. This promise of EA, however, all too often clashes with a different reality when we examine just what EA units are doing in enterprises. Some of these units are simply “product pickers” who select technology for their IT departments. Perhaps that is a little harsh, since managing the technology portfolio is certainly necessary and arguably a core function of EA. But if technology selection is the only thing an EA unit does, then it is falling far short of the acknowledged goals of the overall discipline of EA.