This book stems from a growing frustration with what I call “mainstream” enterprise architecture (EA).
- Is mainstream EA perhaps losing momentum and influence?
- Does EA have a problem of scope and perspective?
- Or is there a lack of relevance to practical business problems?
So what’s the alternative? Can emerging approaches to EA help to re-establish practical business
relevance?
There are many ideas within Systems Thinking (ST) that could be relevant. So among other things, I shall
be looking at possible cross-fertilization between EA and ST.
- What practical lessons can EA learn from ST, and what are the opportunities and challenges for collaboration between the two disciplines?
- What practical benefits can a systems thinking perspective bring to enterprise architecture?
- Which of the tools and techniques of systems practice can usefully be added to the enterprise architecture toolbox?
- How can enterprise architects, systems thinkers and others work together in multi-disciplinary teams?
This book doesn’t claim to provide a full set of answers to these questions, but represents a preliminary exploration of what a solution might look like. My hope is to encourage other EA thinkers and practitioners to go beyond fancy diagrams and rhetoric and to work together to develop a properly grounded approach.
