It has been a few weeks since the Gartner Enterprise Architecture Summit conference in Grapevine, Texas. It continues to be my favorite conference, probably because it seems to be the only US-based conference dedicated entirely to the EA discipline. For me, attending this conference has three benefits. One, it allows me to validate initiatives and approaches, that I as an architect push within my organization. Two, it allows me to have numerous conversations with my peers about the state of their EA practice. This is, of course, invaluable because it puts the “reality” lens in front of what Gartner says. Three, it exposes me to information about developing trends in EA.
At the last conference, one of the recurring themes appeared to be “Vanguard EA” and how it plays in the era of digital business. The key premise here is that the Vanguard EA is the part of EA discipline that is about looking into the future, about innovation, and about steering the enterprise in close partnership with Business. This is in contrast with the Foundational EA, which is more about traditional, perhaps more reactive and IT-focused practice. In other words, Foundational EA is what most EA organizations are today, while Vanguard EA is this emerging trend which represents the place where most EA organizations would like to be. From what I could gather, Gartner believes that there will always be room for both Foundational and Vanguard EA, but in order to thrive in the digital business era organizations must evolve their EA practices beyond their foundational character.
This is great and I couldn’t agree more. Here is the disconnect though… Virtually in all hallway conversations I had at the conference, attendees confirmed that the idea of Vanguard EA is a very elusive dream, as most EA organizations still struggle to be invited to the “business” table. It is true even for what Gartner would consider foundational EA work. In one of the sessions, Gartner speaker suggested that we as Enterprise Architects should invite ourselves to the business table, by demonstrating the value that we bring to business discussion. This is nice, but also strikes me as a little whiny. It’s like a kid saying that if another kid doesn’t want to play with him then he would just keep bringing him candy in hopes that one day he invites him to play. This is a precarious position to be in… and it brings me to the point of this post. It seems that Gartner may be preaching to the choir. Don’t tell us, architects that Vanguard EA is a way of the future, tell the business!
I don’t have the official statistics but I am willing to bet that the vast majority of attendees were architects or managers of architecture organizations. Very few attendees were true business leaders. In one of the closing sessions, the audience was asked “how can we make this conference better”. One of the attendees responded, “offer a two-for-one deal, where you get your conference pass for free if you bring a business person with you!”. I’m not sure if this particular idea is feasible but it clearly shows that many of the attendees share my sentiment. So how about it Gartner? Perhaps it is time to stop preaching to the choir and direct your message to business leaders instead.
Voytek The EA 