#architecture #clarity #velocity #direction 

Imagine that you as CIO are in need or want to establish or improve Enterprise Architecture in the company.

No matter where you start and go, it’s necessary to know where you start and go – just like in Google Maps routing e.g. from your home to a client. You know exactly where your home is and so does Google Maps. And you had better know where your client is too – again, so does Google Maps. Moreover, you or Google Maps know possible paths from your home to your client. This is the foundation for being able to do the routing.

Of course, your situation is more complexe since you need to move in time from the present situation to a target situation in the future. On the other hand, it gives you a lot of options. You can construct new efficient paths getting rid of old, slow, costly ones.

So when starting this Enterprise Architecture initiative of yours, you should start building or updating your EA map. In consequence, you capture what you know about your starting point, your strategy, your target, and which paths there are or could be.

(This summary is an extract of my earlier post Hello Mr EA what you should expect when starting a new project establishing or improving your Enterprise Architecture.
Both posts together are also a very good example to present an aspect to different stakeholders – CIO expecting decision-oriented information, Head IT Governance or Enterprise Architect zooming in expecting deliverables, methods, and tools)