A series on enterprise architecture: the discipline of managing how an organization's business goals, data, applications, and technology fit together as a whole. Not one system, but the entire estate and the relationships between the parts.
Rather than a pile of definitions, the series follows one fictional organization throughout: Aldermont Bank, a mid-size US bank assembled from three smaller banks over twenty-five years, and still running three of everything as a result. Every concept is grounded in a real problem Aldermont has to solve. The posts are meant to be read in order, but each stands on its own.
Foundations
- Explained: Enterprise Architecture
What the discipline actually is, the problem it solves, and why whole-organization questions have no owner without it. - Explained: The Four Architecture Domains
Business, data, application, and technology: the layered mental model the entire discipline hangs off.
The Frameworks
- Architecture: TOGAF and the ADM
The framework most people mean by "enterprise architecture," and the Architecture Development Method at its core. - Explained: The Zachman Framework
The other big name, better understood as a classification schema than a method, and how it contrasts with TOGAF. - Explained: Choosing a Framework
TOGAF, Zachman, FEAF, or just enough architecture to stay out of trouble: how to pick without a certification course.
Artifacts and Practice
- Explained: Capability Mapping
The single most useful EA artifact, and how it differs from an org chart and a process map. - Architecture: The Application Portfolio
Rationalizing overlapping systems, lifecycle models, and treating technical debt as a portfolio problem. - Explained: Architecture Governance
Review boards, standards, and the constant tension between control and delivery speed.
Where EA Meets Engineering Reality
- Explained: Conway's Law and EA
Why org structure is an architecture concern, and how Aldermont's systems came to mirror the banks it absorbed. - In Focus: EA in the Age of Cloud and Microservices
How decentralized delivery, platform teams, and "architecture as enablement" are reshaping the discipline.
Posts are added to this page as they are published. If you are new to the topic, start with Explained: Enterprise Architecture; it frames everything that follows.
Written by Phee Jay.