Last Thursday, I barged into a Twitter conversation on the “ultimate outcome of Enterprise Architecture”. The conversation was related to Forrester’s Enterprise Architecture Forum in San Diego, which I missed due to the blizzard at JFK. @Dcoon posed the question: “Is consolidation and centralization the ultimate outcome of EA?”
While consolidation and selective centralization are milestones on an Enterprise Architecture journey, I don’t believe they represent the “ultimate outcome”. Enterprise Architecture needs to play a linchpin role in advancing the business.
As such, I offered my 140-character perspective, edited for readability, as follows: “The ultimate outcome of Enterprise Architecture is change-friendly capability delivery.”
But, that’s my perspective. What do you think? Do you agree? If not, what is the ultimate outcome of Enterprise Architecture?