Putting the "E" in TOGAF: An EAdirections Webinar”

For those of you who missed the chance to view the EAdirections webinar “Putting the "E" in TOGAF: An EAdirections Webinar” last Thursday here’s your chance to view it at your own leisure. Some of the ideas discussed during this one hour session were enterprise-wide requirements that users of TOGAF struggle with and adjustments in Enterprise Architecture to changing markets and opportunities. Also, don’t miss your chance to meet the presenters Larry DeBoever, George Paras, and Tim Westbrock at the Enterprise Architectures Conference in Las Vegas November 10-13, 2008.

View the archived webinar by clicking on the following link:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/924415223

The Government’s Incremental Move Towards SOA

This latest post on the SOA Network details how the latest report from Input, a leader in the authority of government business, discusses that the government’s growing adoption of SOA practices will fundamentally change how it delivers internal citizen-facing services. The federal market can benefit from increased agility and better IT alignment that SOA brings to the table.

Deniece Peterson, senior analyst at INPUT mentions:

"SOA shifts the concept of the application into a highly dynamic and fluid marketplace of plug-and-play services. A function previously performed by one vendor's application could now be completed by a number of discrete services provided by a multitude of providers. The standardized environment required to make this happen could severely impact the provider who relies heavily on proprietary elements for competitive advantage."

It is still early in the process to see a dramatic change in the federal SOA market as SOA solutions are slowly being integrated into the customer’s environment. The findings from Input can be found here, “Service-Oriented Architecture: Implications for Government and Industry”.

Hiring Enterprise Architects

I came across this interesting post today regarding the hiring of Enterprise Architects. It poses the interesting question of by simply hiring and enterprise architect, does that mean that you will automatically have enterprise architecture? This blogger says no. In fact, in his opinion, many companies would like to believe that having an architect qualifies them to say that have architecture in place, but in fact there is more to the process than simply having the personnel in place. The blogger also contends that EA is a “necessary evil” and in order to hire the best architects they

“must be a dedicated and well rounded man that has to apply creatively the existing body of knowledge since the current state does not support well your endeavor to create your enterprise architecture.”

Do you think that some companies simply believe that by having an architect it means that they have an architecture? What are qualities you look for in an enterprise architect, who would need to successfully build a framework for enterprise architecture from the ground up in an organization?