EA pitfalls

A quick note for enterprise architects: take a look at a conversation on Twitter that’s happening right now, using the hashtag (search-term) #eapitfall – a very good summary of ‘anti-patterns’ and other ways things can go wrong in the development of enterprise architectures.

As Richard Veryard pointed out, some of these are not so much pitfalls as flaws in thinking:

An interesting discussion on Twitter yesterday started with an ebizQ story Gartner Identifies Ten Enterprise Architecture Pitfalls. Brenda Michelson thought Gartner was pointing out the obvious, and Dana Gardner replied that 90% of what analysts do is point out the obvious.I couldn’t help noticing that many of them weren’t exactly pitfalls, but misconceptions (e.g. “thinking one-size-fits-all is the ideal for all scenarios”, “thinking that knowledge can reside purely in artifacts”, “the framework is the answer”), unwise tactics (“modified waterfall planning”, “running behind a project team waving a red flag”) and intriguing disconnects (“embarking on EA without understanding of Why & What”, “practice methodology without anthropology”).

Nevertheless, they’re all real problems that can occur in everyday EA practice, and hence well worth more than just a cursory glance.

Recommended.

[Update: 6 September]

See also Brenda Michelson‘s useful summary Enterprise Architecture Pitfalls (Crowdsourced version).