Enterprise Architecture lessons learnt
The Sydney Architect Council is a quarterly event that I run that consist of a close-knit community for knowledge sharing for Sydney based senior IT architects. We engage in proactive dialogues with each other - on how to better architect business critical solutions on both Microsoft and non-Microsoft platforms. The Architect Council meetings focus on knowledge sharing in the areas of strategic IT issues, and the business environment. Speakers have been drawn from international luminaries, local industry experts, as well as senior Microsoft architects.
We just had such an event last month, with the guest speaker Richard Howie, Telstra Chief Architect & General Manager IT Architecture, Planning and Strategy. Richard presented on:
Case Study: IT Transformation - Developing an IT Strategy & Plan to Survive and Prosper in the new Telecoms Environment
For some time, Telstra’s fixed line revenues have been under increasing pressure from mobile services, and more recently internet-based VOIP systems. While initial cost-reduction measures have been largely successful at keeping pace with these disruptive technologies, Telstra recognized that more was necessary in order to realign the cost base of the business, whilst addressing multiple legacy IT silos within the organization. A very rigorous planning framework, known as GRASP (Governing Realigning Architectures Strategies and Plans), was introduced by Telstra Chief Architect Richard Howie to provide Telstra with blueprints that provided a clear roadmap forward. In this session, Richard talks about GRASP, and how it was used at Telstra.
I personally learnt a lot from this presentation, as well as from the 1 hour open roundtable discussion we had after Richard's presentation. Attached is my notes taken from the stimulating roundtable discussions.