Dec19Written by:Sourabh Hajela
12/19/2007 12:04 PM 
Business leaders - without exception - detest the idea of funding an enterprise architecture project. How can you get over this hurdle?
Enterprise architecture is one of those absolute essentials that is famously derided. Why? Because we lose focus and get into nice charts and graphs instead of creating business value.
So much ground has been lost over the years that most business leaders roll their eyes when any discussion of EA comes up! Because they have been burnt by the endless diagramming and no net connection with business value.
Why should they fund this scientific and/or academic adventure? In their shoes, would you?
The good news is that simple steps can help bolster the image of EAP and get your project the attention and funding it deserves. There is an unmistakable and UNDENIABLE connection between EAP and business value; it just needs to be made evident through action and results not words and walls plastered with diagrams!
This article provides a very good list of the top 10 best practices to get EAP on track. Read the best practices>>
Items 1, 8, 9 and 10 cannot be emphasized enough.
- Let business need drive the EAP train
- Remain flexible but to a point. There is no end to changes. Always focus on results not the architecture which is a means to that end
- Take baby steps. Most enterprise architecture adventures result in disaster because they try to boil the ocean!
- Identify quick hits. Nobody wants to wait 1 or 2 or 3 years for the payback. Would you?
Bon voyage!
