Last month I referred to the cult comedy Office Space when I posed the question, Is Enterprise Architecture Completely Broken? After speaking with two authorities on The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), perhaps I had the wrong film. A better choice: Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Apparently, Enterprise Architecture is not dead yet.
In fact, TOGAF is perhaps the most popular Enterprise Architecture (EA) framework today, and its popularity is only increasing, in spite of the fact that many organizations misapply TOGAF. Yet, even for those organizations that successfully leverage TOGAF and thus achieve positive business outcomes, business agility is still largely out of reach. Thus, while Agile Enterprise Architecture may have crossed the chasm, TOGAF has yet to make the leap.
TOGAF: Work in Progress
The Open Group is a non-profit organization that drives the development of “leading global standards for Enterprise Architecture and certification for enterprise, IT and business architects,” according to their Web site. At the center of this volunteer-driven effort is TOGAF, an EA methodology and framework that is now at version 9.1. And even though “TOGAF is a work in progress,” according to Allen Brown, President and CEO at The Open Group, “the number of TOGAF certifications is accelerating around the world. It’s kind of strange. I would have thought it would have plateaued.” Perhaps TOGAF’s accelerating success is simply because it’s the only game in town. “Many companies report ‘of course we’re using TOGAF’,” according to Brown. “‘What else would you do?’”
Vish Viswanathan, Managing Principal of C C and C Solutions based in Sydney Australia, has a similar perspective. “There’s a revolution taking place, particularly among the Indian System Integrators (SIs),” according to Viswanathan. “Everyone is trying to jump on the TOGAF bandwagon.” Viswanathan is a globally recognized TOGAF expert and a pioneer in designing and delivering The Open Group’s TOGAF Certification Course as well as handholding customers in the TOGAF start up phases.
Read the entire article at http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbloomberg/2014/08/07/enterprise-architecture-dont-be-a-fool-with-a-tool/
Image credit: Todd Sternisha
