An Agile Approach to Enterprise Architecture

by Scott W. Ambler

When project teams work under the assumption that they can do anything they want and use any technology desired, chaos ensues. Functionality and information will be duplicated, and reuse will occur sporadically if at all. Systems will not integrate well, conflicting with one another and causing one another to fail. Costs will skyrocket because similar products from different vendors, or even simply different versions of the same product, will be purchased and then operated within production. Although individual projects may be successful, when taken together as a portfolio, they often leave little to be desired. But it doesn't have to be this way. To counteract the chaos, this Executive Report explores the following issues: