Why should anyone do enterprise-architecture?

A nice quick one this time! I came across this tweet today from business-model guru Alex Osterwalder:

• business_design: A business model’s performance is due more to the harmonious relationships among its elements than to the elements themselves

I tend to describe a core driver for enterprise-architecture and the like as one very simple idea: things work better when they work together.

And Alex’s comment above implies that the people that an organisation most needs to help make its business-model work – to ensure “the harmonious relationships among its elements” – are going to be folks who focus on making sure that things work better when they work together. Otherwise known as enterprise-architects and the like.

So why should anyone do enterprise-architecture? That’s the real business-reason, right there in a nutshell, from one of the most respected figures in business-innovation today.

Useful, I hope? 🙂