TOGAF: How the EA Standard Improves IT/Business Alignment

Hi

http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/integration/togaf-how-the-ea-standard-improves-itbusiness-alignment.html

http://www.itbusinessedge.com/interviews/enterprise-architecture-standard-aligns-people-business-processes-and-technology.html

 

When I first started working, Total Quality Management was all the rage, and when my workplace embraced it, I thought it was brilliant. I loved the idea of pulling together to improve work quality and efficiency - especially since, as I saw it, the place needed to shake off some dust.

Many of my colleagues had started working at the company right after high school and were now middle-aged. They felt a bit differently about it and were much less excited.

Since then, I’ve seen TQM efforts  — and similar programs —collapse under the weight of their own metrics and processes. A few hopeful souls kept at it, while other employees tried to avoid the meetings because they wanted to focus on finishing “real work.”

As a result, I’m a bit skeptical about any large-scale, long-term initiative.

But at the same time, if anything needs that sort of deep thinking and disciplined approach, it’s IT and business processes. Technology is complicated and expensive, as are the processes many of us contend with on a day-to-day business. Frankly, I’m surprised some companies haven’t collapsed under the weight of their own complications.

That makes me think that, for many organizations and IT divisions, the time is right for a discipline like enterprise architecture.

Recently, I interviewed Sven van Dijk (@Vandijk_S), a consultant with BiZZdesign, about the values of The Open Group Architecture Framework, commonly called TOGAF. It’s a proprietary standard, although the Open Group provides it for free to organizations using it internally for noncommercial purposes……..