Enterprise Architecture: Vision & Reality

This week’s Cyb3rSyn Newsletter is a special mid-week edition summarizing the key highlights of the second Cyb3rSyn Labs Podcast episode - my conversation with Graham Berrisford, who is the author of the book, “A Systems Thinker’s View of Enterprise Architecture”. The book is exclusive and free to download for all the members of the Cyb3rSyn Community.

The podcast is a good introduction to the book in which Graham explains where Enterprise Architecture (EA) came from, what it is and is not, the role it plays in an organization today, and how it relates to systems thinking.

Graham initially studied psychology and encountered systems concepts through the Open University on BBC in the 1970s. These early systems were physical, such as shipyards or farms, with physical boundaries. He later taught structured systems analysis and design, which he notes wasn't social system thinking. In 2011, he attended a meeting on systems thinking and discovered a different approach, creating tension between engineers and those interested in people.

Graham is primarily concerned with rule-bound, regular, engineered systems, but acknowledges their intersection with people in organizations.

Here are key highlights of the presentation from Graham and my conversation with him…

Table of Contents

• The Genesis and Motivation for EA

• Defining the Enterprise as a System

• Key Components and Relationships

• Understanding Architecture Levels and Domains

• The Gap Between Vision and Reality

• Challenges in Implementing and Maintaining EA

• Full Episode