What's in a Name ... Alchemy of EA ?

WHY ALCHEMY ?

The defining objectives of Alchemy are varied however I like the following two

1. The Philosophers Stone - the capability of turning base metal into gold or silver, and
2. The Elixir of Life - conferring youth and immortality

For the purposes of Alchemy of EA I am intentionally adopting the essence of the first object ... for now ;) ...


Regarding EA - what I am referring to is Enterprise Architecture. I believe that today, there is a shroud of mystery surrounding EA which claims to possess profound powers, a rightful place at the seat of enterprise strategy - yet - the contorted look on peoples faces when confronted with the term - Enterprise Architecture - indicates mass confusion compounded by many people claiming to be EA's.


When no one really knows what it is, why not call yourself one, shroud yourself in the mystery and know one will know the difference ...



Many will look to a framework or methodology as a first port of call when the term EA is being considered. This to me is more like "any port in a storm" reactionary response. For me EA is not necessarily a person or team nor a framework - it is a discipline and a way of thinking. I believe and have experienced that the discipline and mindset pays great dividends as it permeates members of teams, functions and organisations and as we develop the Alchemy to the second objective ... permeation at the level of societies pays dividends.

SYSTEMS THINKING - A SHIFT IN MINDSET

Imagine a world in which the following 3 questions could be answered succinctly by members of any organisation.

1. Why does the organisational system exist? 
2. What does it need to do?
3. How and how well, does it do it?

These are simple questions for which there are very rarely - to my experience there have never been - comprehensive nor complete answers. Most companies do what they do generally because that is what they have always done. This is a manifestation of the level of awareness which is a central theme for Alchemy of EA. When the point comes where "doing what we do" does not service the market sufficiently any more they are either out of business or enter into a "Transformation" ...

CHANGE

There is a 4th question that logically follows:

     4. What should we change?

Now this is when the term - "the enemy of the great is the good" comes into play. There are many good idea for change. However, without consistent and complete systems thinking, it is impossible, at least very, very hard, to know or measure what the great ideas for change are. So based on the Theory of Constraints, where in the system should the effort be applied in order to release the most restricting constraint - this lifts the performance of the whole system. Applying improvements to a component of a system that is not a limiting constraint simply pushes additional volume to the point of constraint - ultimately the system does not improve, if anything it degrades . As change takes lots of effort, time, money and also if misdirected exposes you to your competition getting it right ... it is actually a very important survival decision.

PROFIT & CASH FLOW THE NECESSARY EVILS

The fifth question is:


     5. Can we make this change and maintain/grow our profit while maintaining a positive cash-flow?


A company is a collection of customers, people, assets and partners that coordinate in the conversion of inputs into a higher value output and in the process makes a profit. Long term positive profit is mandatory, a table stakes item. Even more so, positive cash flow is more immediately mandatory than profit ...

THIS IS WHAT IS IN THE NAME

Alchemy of EA is a movement more so than anything. Born out of frustration at the confusion and indirection in the Enterprise Architecture space. I am about to collaborate in the creation of a series of posts that map out the process of establishing systems thinking - the upper level will be constrained to the Value Stream for now. This establishes conviction, purpose and clarity for the decision - what to change. Constructing the change decision process within the mandatory boundaries of cash-flow, capital and profit whilst aligned to purpose - why we exist in the value chain.

THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY

In my experience, technology envelopes most peoples understanding of EA. This is a seriously limiting factor for the potential of EA as a discipline and practice.


This is compounded by the fact that ... Traditionally, usually and unfortunately ... Technology gets in the way of a great outcome. The blinking lights dazzle and the bunnies seem to forget the fact that they are crossing a road ...  those lights are on coming traffic ... don't loose sight of the objective ... cross the road - use the lights to help you avoid danger and achieve the outcome.


My experience is that in the land of technology, and it is an ever increasing land ... the lights are blinding us from the objective. Way too often, the point of discussion is technical solution/issue, the latest silver bullet or killer app rather than outcome focused.


Maintaining a laser focus on what it is we need to achieve and bringing the phenomenal power of technology to bare on the problem space within in the context of the 5'th question, will deliver exponential improvements in the performance of the system ...


Lets take a journey of discovery and create the way ....