Just as we did in Orlando, we thought we’d share what CIOs at Gartner’s Barcelona Symposium 2024 talked to us about when discussing EA tools. There were a lot of similar themes as in the previous US blog, so we won’t repeat them verbatim here, we’ll link to those.
It’s a lot of work/it’s quite complex
As in the discussions in Orlando, several CIOs expressed concerns about how much effort is required for an EA tool to provide value, and whether it might be too difficult or complex to manage. Our response remains the same as in the Orlando blog: focus and keep it manageable (read more about it here). As one CIO put it, ‘I guess we don’t really have a choice if we want to understand our interdependencies.’ The key is to focus on the aspects that are most important for the business.
The idea that EA is ‘too hard or complex’ is somewhat misleading, as organisations are inherently complex. EA is simply about modelling that complexity to uncover both the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns. By documenting that complexity, it becomes accessible to more people, which in turn means it can be understood and addressed. Ignoring it, on the other hand, only creates future risk and leads to uninformed decisions.
We don’t suggest mapping everything—only those areas of complexity that impact critical processes. It’s about understanding what matters most without becoming overwhelmed.
Speed to Value
We were frequently asked how to achieve quick success. While this partly depends on the size of the organisation, we recommend aiming for value drops that can be achieved in 4–12 weeks. The timeline varies based on complexity, though mapping Business Capabilities to Applications can often be done in just a few days if the data is available.
The key is to keep these value drops manageable and focused on delivering value without being overly ambitious in scope. We discussed this approach to delivering value in more detail in our Orlando blog post.
Sourcing Data
CIOs were eager to avoid duplicating work. Where existing systems had already mastered data, they didn’t want to rekey it into the EA tool. We explained that it’s best to feed data in from external systems, ensuring that data masters are clearly understood, and to enrich that data in the EA tool where appropriate.
The EA tool essentially serves as a hub, integrating data from various sources to build deeper EA insights. For example, one of our clients uses Essential in conjunction with ServiceNow. They master their applications in ServiceNow, feed that data into Essential via APIs, and then enrich it further with detailed information about the processes and capabilities that those applications support.
Not a seeing value
Several CIOs mentioned that they were using tools but weren’t seeing value being delivered. A Gartner analyst we spoke to noted that there was some disillusionment with EA, as it wasn’t effectively addressing business problems and was overly focused on IT. This is a recurring cycle in EA, as we discussed in a blog post a few years ago: EA delivers real value when it ‘looks up’ at the business, rather than ‘looking down’ at the technology.
This challenge partly comes down to skills. If your primary hiring criterion for an EA is a TOGAF qualification, you’re probably approaching this the wrong way. The first question to ask any architect should be, ‘What business value have you delivered or can you deliver?’ If EAs are only looking down at technology and aren’t involved in business change—whether due to lack of knowledge or experience—they will struggle to deliver perceived strategic value. While value can still be delivered with a technology focus, it often isn’t as obvious to stakeholders.
This lack of business experience means that EAs tend to collect information that is useful for EA purposes but not necessarily for stakeholders, or they struggle to communicate effectively what they are doing.
How can this be fixed? Hire EAs who have business experience or a solid understanding of the business. Put your architects into business roles temporarily to gain experience. Alternatively, bring Business Architects and Business Analysts into the EA team to help bridge the gap and ensure that technical EAs better understand the business context
Where to start
Several people asked where to start. The answer really depends on the data you have and where the biggest challenges lie. If you can identify the intersection of these factors and determine which area is the easiest to tackle, that’s your ideal starting point.
We often find that starting with collating applications and then mapping either business capabilities to them (e.g., identifying areas of duplication), or with technology (e.g., assessing risk) tends to work best. However, the best approach depends on the specific burning issues at hand.
One interesting conversation was with a CIO who felt his team wasn’t delivering value. We challenged him to define what value meant to him, and he admitted he expected the EA team to provide that answer. We explained that defining value requires two-way communication to avoid mismatched expectations. He agreed—so it looks like one EA team will be having an important conversation with their CIO soon!
A bit about Essential!
This next bit is about Essential, including some blatant promotion, so you can stop reading here if you want to avoid this bit. However, we thought we’d do this because we had some very interesting feedback.
Many people mentioned they were considering moving away from other tools because they weren’t getting enough value from their current EA tool. The main reasons were:
- The tools were too simplistic: ‘They tell me nothing new.’
- They were too expensive: Our transparent pricing was appealing, especially since many felt it offered equivalent or even greater value. We also highlighted that our drawing capabilities are continually improving (stay tuned).
Not heard of Essential?
It was surprising how many architects were unaware of Essential, especially given that we’re ranked number one on Google for Open Source EA tools and have been on the Gartner MQ for four years now. Several open-source Essential users visited to explore the cloud version and were surprised by the improvements and simplicity of data capture in Cloud — they had assumed that the Cloud version was the same, but it’s significantly different, with security, audit, drag and drop editing, etc.
We received some great compliments:
- ‘Our current tool can’t do this.’
- ‘This is way beyond what our current tool can do’
- ‘The application rationalisation is amazing.’
- ‘Our group enforces [tool name withheld], but that doesn’t stop me from using Essential for what I need, and I’ll send what [the other tool] needs from Essential.’
Importantly, we had various people who had been sent over by other delegates who had seen the tool and were genuinely surprised at Essential’s capabilities.
Useful Links:
5 Tips for EA Repository Success
Enterprise Architecture – Simple Wins to Show Value
Effective Enterprise Architecture depends on powerful Governance
Collective Wins – How Enterprise Architecture and Regulatory Compliance can create Mutual Success
Using Storytelling to engage your Organisation with Enterprise Architecture