Original EA Survey
Several years ago Henley Business School launched a research project in collaboration with McKinsey & Company to better understand from a data-driven survey what makes Enterprise Architecture successful.
The results of this survey – some findings can be found here – delivered many proof points on the value of Enterprise Architecture and what makes and Enterprise Architecture department successful:
The research was able to show that digital transformations without the involvement of Enterprise Architecture teams accumulate technical debt and reduce reuse and that the proper setup of Enterprise Architecture could counteract these issues.
There is also clear evidence that practices, such as direct contact to the CXO level and enough time for strategic planning, make the Enterprise Architecture team more effective and considered to be more value-adding by the rest of the organization.
Why this new survey?
The original research very much focused on Enterprise Architecture as a unit and its setup in the organization. Yet, the results also highlighted the vital importance of the individual contributor, based on the skill set that they have established.
The existing survey mainly focuses on questions such as:
- What do Digital and EA leading organisations do differently?
- What is the typical size of an Enterprise Architecture team and how is it organized?
- What are the implications if Enterprise Architecture is not well known in the rest of the organization?
- What are the artifacts that the Enterprise Architecture team should create
Many levers can only be changed by a few people in the organization. Changing the operating model or the organizational setup of Enterprise Architecture is usually a big effort that requires alignment of senior stakeholders. There are however a lot of important questions that are relevant for each person working with or in architecture related topics in the company, including:
- How important is good communication and stakeholder management for the success of Enterprise Architecture?
- How good are people at assessing and developing their own skills to achieve their targets?
- How important are technical, data, and business skills for the successful governance and delivery of architecture initiatives?
- What are the skills of architects taking a lead role in business transformation?
- What are the differentiators of highly successful people in Enterprise Architecture
The existing survey is focused on the organization. The new survey is focused on you as an individual working in the field of Enterprise Architecture and Transformation.
Lead and supporting organizations
This new survey is being run as a research initiative at Henley Business School, following its ethical and privacy standards. Research leads are Dr Oliver Bossert (Visiting Fellow) and Professor Sharm Manwani.
The book presented on this website is informed by and separate from the research conducted at Henley Business School.
We thank the Association of Enterprise Architects and other stakeholders for supporting the survey dissemination to progress our shared aim of enhancing Enterprise Architecture skills.
Privacy Note: Only Henley’s research leads will have access to the survey data. Survey supporters such as the AEA will have access to the accumulated data analysis.
Benefits
We need your support to create a broad database of skills and success patterns in Enterprise Architecture. The button below takes you to a survey that will take around 30 minutes to complete and that aims to focus on the capabilities you need for the success of your enterprise and also your own career progression and performance.
The main questions cover the following categories:
- Personal Capabilities
- Architecture Capabilities
- Managerial Capabilities
- Enterprise Context
- Personal Context and Performance
If you participate in the survey and leave your contact details we will share the results of the study and an individual report with you once we have collected a critical mass of data points:
- You will get your individual capability profile which can be compared with the survey population.
- You will receive an overall summary that reports on which skills are associated with successful performance.
We appreciate your support and request you take the time to contribute to this research effort and your personal development at the same time!