Stealth Tech

Recently, CNSI Solutions Architect James Harbour was asked to contribute his expertise to one of the preeminent IT industry publications, Architecture and Governance. His article, titled “Steal Enterprise Architecture: Using EA Without Calling it EA” dives into the world of enterprise architecture – how to brand it, sell it and implement it when a client has a negative association with the term.

Despite the undeniable benefits of EAs, many in the past have oversold the idea and under-delivered on the implementation. When stakeholders were left with a system that imparted no significant benefits, the entire term was stigmatized.

 The key to overcoming biases is to put in place systems that achieve the same successful results, collect the same metrics of performance, and otherwise behave as EA, but call it something other than EA, says Harbour.

In essence, Harbour advocates for a kind of “Trojan horse EA,” allowing the installation and maintenance of systems that deliver the benefits of EA without the label, and thus without the negative association. In best cases, the effort can prove “trust and success among the stakeholders and may result in more widespread future adoption of the EA methodology across the relevant stakeholders within the organization,” Harbour concludes. 

The article is available in its entirety on Architecture and Governance’s website. You’ll have to do a quick (and free!) sign-up to get access, but the content is well worth it.

Have you had a bad experience with EA in the past? Have you seen its benefits, or are you still hesitant to commit resources? Tell us your thoughts by commenting or finding us on Twitter @CNSICorp