Real Enterprise Architecture

Today I read a very good blog post (just another) from Tom Graves, which worked as a blockade runner for one thought of mine where I was not really able to put it into words.

“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”,
Harry Truman (1884 - 1974)

As I have expressed in the GLUE Domains I observe a conflict between Enterprise Architects and the Business where quite often both the Business and Enterprise Architecture claim to deliver Business Architecture:

As written there is one main assumption behind this. Enterprise Architecture is the complete set of the Discipline Design across all Decks and all Divisions:

So a linear-paradigm Taylorism approach could be literally understood as just follow the Disciplines of GLUE and you know the input to Design (Architecture) and the output of Design:

The conceptual roles and responsibilities in GLUE is something different than what happens in real life. I am in the happy position to have officially the title Enterprise Architect, but if I look at the daily work then I am not only working in the Domain of Architecture as such, but I do work in the complete GLUE Space and actually 80% of my work (rough estimation) is based around working with people, even though my function is part of the IT. I believe a real Enterprise Architect has to work like I do (otherwise I would work different).

Having said this there is of course in all GLUE Domains potential conflicts, but I do not care who gets the credits, as long as the right solution is found and applied. To be able to work in the whole GLUE Space I had to develop myself from a Specialist to a Generalized Specialist. I started as a specialist, because that was all the market asked for (as pointed out also by Tom Graves) and lucky enough (by looking back it was more by luck than by plan) I always got the chance to add some other skills with a different angle allowing me to grow to more breadth.