Government's enterprise architecture still evolving

The government's enterprise architecture assessment framework is going to change. The changes that are occurring are good, but can't happen too quickly, as reported by FCW.com. Kshmendra Paul, chief architect at OMB's Office of E-government and information Technology recently outlined the plan which will include finalizing Version 3's framework.

They are currently deciding which direction to take the framework, as:

Under both the current assessment framework and the proposed revision, OMB considers the degree of completion, whether the agency actually uses the architecture, and its results. However, the proposed one lacks the emphasis on recent concerns such as IPv6 migration and change management, favoring instead factors such as performance management integration and the alignment between the agency's enterprise transition plan and its OMB Exhibit 300s, which make the business case for proposed investments.

They also pointed out that the new EA system will most likely not be changed by the new administration coming into the White House.

Hottest IT Jobs

In a recent research study done by Forrester, discussed here at InfoWorld, they released what their analysts believe are the hottest jobs in IT. The hottest of all jobs available were information/data architects and information security experts. Making the extremely hot list was data/content oriented business analyst, business architect, enterprise architect, and vendor management experts.

Of all the jobs on the list, Forrester found that these attributes were most important characteristics in all the jobs listed:

* Local knowledge of the business industry or region.
* Cross-discipline knowledge; understanding both management practices and customer groups.
* Those willing to take on high-risk roles that, if successful, will have a major impact on the business.
* Limited external supply; that is, while an outsourcer may be willing to supply 500 coders, the benefits of finding you a half-dozen enterprise architects is not worth their while.
* Consistency with technology, vendor, or industry direction, meaning rapid changes in technology; an example is how mobile put a higher demand on real experts who have domain-specific knowledge.