Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
architects must also engineer metrics and measurement criteria into each
element to be able to identif y and illustrate the benef its or costs incurred
during implementation.
This is not the end of the requirements for an enterprise architect, by
any means. The chief architect must also plan each element with clear
goals, milestones, and completion criteria before seeking or providing
approval for each stage. The architect must be the final arbiter when
negotiating solutions to conflicts that arise during planning, acquisi-
tion, implementation, and adoption of each change—which relies far
more heavily on the project management skills of the architect than on
detailed knowledge of the technologies involved. Ultimately, the archi-
tect must plan, design, guide, and monitor the ongoing fluid process of
development throughout the enterprise and all of its associated business
elements and technologies.
While the process of enterprise architecture never ends, individual
elements must be clearly identified with a scope, planning guidelines,
completion criteria, and other elements common to discrete project
management. Leadership, communication, negotiation, problem solv-
ing, resolving cultural impact, meeting regulatory mandates and stan-
dards, quality control, and other aspects of formal project management
play a critical role in the success or failure of a chief architect's contribu-
tions. Operational elements within small and medium-sized enterprises
may not always need a formal scoping document, formal change con-
trol committees, and a detailed risk analysis for each tiny change that
may be enacted. However, knowledge of these techniques is vital to
knowing when they have become necessary—particularly as the enter-
prise scale increases.
In addition to operational technology management, the chief architect
must be comfortable in some type of formal project and program manage-
ment methodology. It is important that any other lead architectural roles
also involve these principles, but they are imperative for the central archi-
tectural role. Note, however, that there are many different formal project
management styles. General project management techniques often bring
benefits beyond focused-methodology management techniques, such as
those that focus closely on quality control or documentation mechanisms
specific to particular technologies. More general techniques often address
business drivers that may factor into long-range planning without being
obvious in short- and mid-term architectural assessments.
