Gabriel Morgan - All Comments

re: Positive and Negative behaviors to look out for in Enterprise Architects

Rhonin Powers... — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 00:06:02 GMT

Back here again... using the wisdom here as a guide, as a compass to avoid certain pitfalls, and yet embrace new opportunities to grow. I've said it before...this is pure gold!

re: Enterprise Architect vs Solution Architect

Gabriel Morgan — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:02:39 GMT

@Taranath

I like the simplicity of the sets of dimensions you listed as it reminds of the classic BAIT model that seems to withstand a lot of new shifts in EA thinking. Having said that, the classic EA constructs produced (eg Zachman, BAIT, FEAF, etc) seem to miss the ability to capture "the business". That is, they're strengths lie in helping describe IT but not the business part of the company. I'm curious how you would you fit sub-constructs like Business Strategy (aka Vision Statements, Strategy Maps, Scorecards) and Business Model (ie Alex Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas)?

re: Enterprise Architect vs Solution Architect

Taranath Chebrolu — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 08:49:30 GMT

Enterprise Architecture is a 4 dimensional model. Those are Business Process, Information, Application and Technical architecture to support business strategies

re: How do you reward failure?

Anurag Suman — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 18:20:05 GMT

Very well articulated, cancelling or killing the project / program early in the cycle is very important to save time and money for the Organization based on Business Strategy, Goal and Vision

re: Solution Architect Skills Assessment Idea

Gabriel Morgan — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 20:56:24 GMT

Hey Phil,

There’re are lots of opinions out there on what does a Solution Architect (SA) do versus other architecture disciplines or any other disciplines like Product Manager, Program Manager, Developer and in a company for that matter. The skill set list I provided in the blog could probably use some refinement but not much to make that much of a difference. In my opinion, the Solution Architect role is a project-scoped role. Within an Enterprise Architecture team, it’s popular these days to have an Enterprise Solution Architect (ESA) role. The two are similar and different. They are similar in that they are both accountable for leveraging all related domains (business, information, technology, etc) to design something. What’s different is the output and the intent of the output. SAs design solutions to project-scoped business problems with specific measures of success and the ESAs design high-level, directional system models and define technology usage policies to help project teams align to.

I’d like to add something here. I don’t think that every org should have a standard set of roles that are copy’n pasted from some industry team model. Each company and organization within a company will have a very different situation than another. For example, one company may be in the throes of economic turmoil and require scaling down the infrastructure to reduce costs. In this situation, an EA team may not need to have a dedicated title of “Information Architect” or “Solution Architect” but rather have Infrastructure Architect to focus on scaling down the infrastructure. Of course, they’ll likely need a dash of Information Architecture and Solution Architecture skills to build out the related artifacts to get the infrastructure task completed. I suppose I’m just highlighting to you not to fall into the trap of assuming each named architecture skill or discipline requires a dedicated architect title in an arch team.

I like the approach of first understanding the major business problems, then dedicating the right arch roles necessary and enable them with just enough arch domain disciplines to get their job done. For example, I’m in a situation right now where the business I’m in requires the need for tighter project portfolio management to enable their business strategy. So, we’re strengthening our Business Architecture skills with titled Business Architects with a tad of Information Architecture and Solution Architecture. Of course, I always assume that the titled architects have project delivery experience, a strong appreciation and experience in all traditional arch domains.

Gabriel.

re: Solution Architect Skills Assessment Idea

Phil Mizzi — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 10:13:36 GMT

Gabriel, almost six years on from the original post do you still believe those skillsets hold true? I'm currently an Enterprise Architect that may have to take in Solutions Architecture too in the future. I thought SA was also more about being in touch with a greater level of detail than an EA. What do you think?

re: Positive and Negative behaviors to look out for in Enterprise Architects

Rhonin X. Powers — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:22:25 GMT

This a fantastic article and certainly one that will "stand the test of time", in terms of insights shared. I continue to strive and to grow within the EA discipline and your thoughts on positive/negative behaviors are things I will take to heart and carry with me going forward and make part of my "continual" self improvement plans.

Excellent!

re: Enterprise Solution Architects and Leadership

Andy Dang — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:15:51 GMT

Hi Gabriel,

Thanks for sharing this great article. This arcticle is quite inspiring to help someone like me to take courage from a Solution Architect to be an Enterprise Architect on how to mentally prepare the mindset and skillset required to take there.

Thanks,

Andy

re: Strategically Federating IT

DJF — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:14:31 GMT

Great read! Very insightful and can apply to so many other areas of business. Thank you!

re: Enterprise Architect vs Solution Architect

Gabriel Morgan — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:32:11 GMT

@ terek,

Thanks for taking the time to read and share your comments.

I hear the use of the term Technical Architect quite a bit and the definitions vary. Before I try to compare the two in this blog, could you please let me know what definition you are thinking of?

For example, one of the more common definition I hear about stems from Gartner and TOGAF references which boil down to something like "The archtiect accountable for the architecture domain defined by hardware, software and network infrastructure". If this is what you mean, I think the Technical Architect is a synergistic role that aligns to the Solution Architect and Enterprise Architect roles and be accountable for ensuring a healthy infrastructure. Therefore, from a project team perspective, a Technical Architect would collaboratively work with the Solution Architect role to construct the infrastructure of a solution including things such as network communications design (think network trunking, comm protocols, and supplier assessment guides), network availability design (think hardware and hardward configuration specs to meet load requirements), etc.