Transform the Enterprise

Sharm Manwani and Oliver Bossert, 2024

Develop leadership, managerial  and business skills to plan and  execute a transformation of the operating model of the organization including any cultural changes. This is an extension of the usual operational and tactical architectural initiatives.

In the two prior sections we discussed the necessary skills to transform yourself to become a better architect and the portfolio to transform the architecture. Transforming the enterprise requires a broader  leadership mandate and skill level for any Enterprise Architect. 

If we think about the impact that Architecture had on the success of companies like Netflix or Amazon we can clearly see that good architecture extends beyond  the business processes and the technology landscape into transforming the the operating model. A wide range of skills is required covering the architecture team, operational management, cross-functional teams and transformation management. These are the topics we are covering in the third row of the capability map. 

In this section we  cover all the activities that have a far broader reach and go beyond the boundaries of the architecture team. 

This starts with setup and management of the core team – those people that are going to drive architecture and transformation as their main job. Success relies on clarity of roles, clear metrics linking the team to the enterprise, and ongoing investment in the skills of team members.

Related to this are the operational management tasks and the management of initiatives. These capabilities evolve around steering the project portfolio of the company including managing vendors . And it also includes the communication with regulators and other external bodies. 

Most enterprises now understand that there are very few initiatives that cover only business or only IT. In a well run modern company there needs to be an operational steering across all initiatives that contribute value no matter how much or how little technology they use. 

As we move from operations to transformation the role and contribution of cross-functional teams becomes more critical. When managing the transition to a new operating model the team and people dimension are vital. This is not limited to the team management of the architecture or the IT teams but includes business colleagues. It is important to pick the right team model for the selected initiative – for example waterfall or agile. Depending on the type of initiative, different team structures and governance will be required. A time-bound initiative such as enhancing a business process requires a different governance approach to an ongoing cross-functional team that is fully empowered to take big decisions for example related to a platform model or ongoing product.

We consider an integrative “mission control” type of approach as critical for the success of any larger transformation as well as for the day to day management in a steady state. 

This then also leads directly to the last box of the row – the strategic transformation. Here we talk about scoping and executing the transformation, ensuring alignment driving new innovative solutions, and changing the working culture of the organization. A lot of dramatic failures are due to the fact that the transformation addressed the technology and the processes but did not manage the change on the people side. Having a CI/CD pipeline for continuous integration and deployment in place, aligning systems with capability platforms and innovating the processes is all nice – but without education and coaching to enable the change management the transformation is going to fail. 

Enterprise Architect is rarely going to be in charge of all these aspects.  However it is important to be aware of the necessity of these efforts, proactively coordinate them and ensure that neither you or the key elements are overlooked or forgotten. 

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