Mike Rosen
When asked how enterprise architecture work relates to agile methods in their organization, half of companies reported they had not yet addressed agile methods or how to make EA meaningful within that context.
These results are reported in the new Cutter Consortium Executive Brief, "Delivering Value with Enterprise Architecture: A Survey of Today's Best Practices and Programs" by Mike Rosen. The report examines the current state of enterprise architecture (EA), including its organization and programs, practices used, and the effectiveness of EA, all based on a recent Cutter Consortium survey. The survey results represent responses from 148 companies.
According to Rosen, "As the adoption of agile development and project management increases, this presents a challenge to the inclusion of architecture. Right off, I'll assert that good agile practices are not contrary to architecture. But many implementations of agile do indeed use it as an excuse not to do architecture or design. That is the fault of management, not agile itself."
Rosen maintains that two different sets of activities need to take place to address the integration of agile and architecture:
"First, the implementation of agile must include architecture. This is typically in the inclusion of a Sprint 0, which addresses architecture and design before development begins; understanding and using architectural guidelines and patterns during development; and a definition of 'done,' which may include a small amount of validation and documentation. Second, architecture must adapt to the processes and needs of agile. Heavyweight architecture specification won't cut it. Lightweight patterns to define architecture appear to be the most successful approach I've seen. Complete integration occurs when architecture provides tests that fit into the test-driven development environment."
Mike Rosen is Director of Cutter Consortium's Enterprise Architecture practice and Senior Consultant with its Business-IT Strategies practice. He has more than 20 years' technical leadership experience architecting, designing, and developing software products and applications. (Please see his full bio.)
To request a copy of the Enterprise Architecture Executive Brief containing Mike Rosen's analysis, or to schedule an interview, please contact Laura St. Clair (+1 781 641 5118 or lstclair@cutter.com).