Question:
Check out http://www.architectureandgovernance.com/ or directly on this link: http://www.architectureandgovernance.com/content/guest-post-value-strategic-it-planning-and-enterprise-architecture
I would like to get your thoughts on this topic.
My Answer:
I think the issue (and thus the core of the value proposition) is neatly expressed in Kim/Mauborgne’s book – Blue Ocean Strategy. In Chapter 4 Focus on the Big Picture, Not the Numbers:
Think of a typical strategic plan. It starts with a lengthy description of current industry conditions and the competitive situation. Next is a discussion on how to increase market share, capture new segments, or cut costs, followed by an outline of numerous goals and initiatives. A full budget is almost invariably attached…. The process usually culminates in the preparation of a large document culled from the mishmash of data provided by people from various part of the organisation who have conflicting agendas and poor communications. In this process, managers spend the majority of strategic time filling in boxes and running numbers instead o thinking outside the box…….If you ask companies to present their proposed strategies in no more than a few slides, it is not surprising that few clear or compelling strategies are articulated………And a closer look reveals that most plans don’t contain a strategy at all but rather a smorgasbord of tactics that individually make sense but collectively don’t add up to a unified clear direction that sets the company apart.
Focus on the big picture, not the numbers is the message. I call this traditional approach described above as “Christmas Wish List” strategic planning – and most IT organisation embrace this by sending relationship manager out a couple of months before corporate plans are due to ask business manager what they want next year?
I think if you use a tools like Troux (as mentioned in the article) or Alfabet's planningIT – they help to manage the complex information but the basic foundation of what you are doing with EA needs to be in place first other wise the tool will overwhelm the EA program.
Are you just going to continue to proliferate the Christmas Wish List approach? – if yes, then you will add little or no greater value than current planning processes but if you plan to deliver strategic business value through EA you need to look differently at what your EA program is doing. Most of the methods will support a new approach and both Gartner and TOGAF do focus on starting with business strategy and the external environmental analysis – it is only when you start to show how this wish list is making the strategic output poorly and that you have an alternative that you will succeed.
I think the best person to test this approach on is the CFO and the best time is during yearly budget planning. We have all seen the wish list grow and grow and recognised the problems it is creating but often are powerless to do anything about it because the relationship managers have promised the business IT will deliver. Take your alternative approach to the CFO and talk about the changes you would make, the saving you have identified and the strategic value you can add by using EA effectively. Start small and then as you mature consider using the tools the guide and manage the information and the deliverables.
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