09.08.11
Enterprise Architecture and Football
[Cartoon]
A football season is a great metaphor for Enterprise Architecture. Like the building of an enterprise through a series of projects, a football season is determined by the outcomes of the games played. There are competitors, strengths and weaknesses, strategies and tactics, rules, unexpected opportunities, and deadlines.
Each business project, like each football game, is played to win. A project and a football game have a time frame in which to play and the winner is determined by the score at the end of the time limit. When a football team is building for the future, they may not win, but they will develop their players for future wins. For organizations, they may enter a new market to build their ability to play with little expectation of garnering a significant share of the business.
Other projects may challenge the leaders in a market with intent to gain a majority in market share. Like football, the adversary may be an old rival or have the excitement of a “David and Goliath” challenge.
In each football game there is always a risk that key players might be injured. Major injuries could take players out for the season. Minor injuries might be remedied by applying a little tape. In business, a project might require reorganization or automated system changes. Sometimes this means the complete elimination of some departments and automated systems. Sometimes quick results can be achieved by applying duct-tape solutions to meet the project needs.
In football, between games, the team works on rehabilitation from the previous game and preparation for the next game. For an organization, it needs to rehabilitate by replacing the duct-tape solutions with properly constructed solutions.
Although winning each game is important, there should be adequate attention given to preparation before a game and rehabilitation following a game. For business projects, this means that preparing the enterprise architecture for a game is part of playing for the long-term. After a business project is complete, there must be rehabilitation while preparing for the next game.
Rehabilitation is a form of paying off the technical dept created when duct-tape solutions were applied to get a project completed. Because duct-tape solutions are not as visible as are football injuries, they often go unnoticed and unattended. They lay like trip wires for future projects.
It is the responsibility of Enterprise Architects to expose the duct-tape solutions and propose properly constructed solutions. It is also the responsibility of the Enterprise Architects to provide the plan for preparing for the future projects.
Football is a good metaphor for Enterprise Architecture. The outcome is about a season of wins and losses with preparation before each game and rehabilitation after each game. Organizations that only focus on the projects and ignore the preparation and rehabilitation will not be winners. When this occurs in football, they replace the coach. In business, they replace the management.
Enterprise Architects are well-aware of the continuing evolution of technology. They creatively look for technology convergence that can provide breakthroughs in thinking. We are at one of those convergent junctions today. What is about to happen will give non-professional information technologists control of their use of automation in their business. No longer will they simply peer through windows and see only what applications let them see. They will be able to go inside, see how things work, and control their automation. – Enterprise Architects Masters of the Unseen City
Closing the Business / IT gap.
