Is there too much talk about EA Process?

James McGovern writes an interesting post about how he feels that the Enterprise Architecture blogosphere is talking way too much about EA processes and not enough about the EA practices. He makes some good points about this and I do agree in general. I would personally like to see what are the challenges that the EA community faces and how they were addressed.

I think the issue here isn't that process is talked about too much, but it isn't grounded with the reality aspects. How do you apply these proven processes in a pragmatic way in your enterprise. We all know that the "Big Bang" approach doesn't work so how do people actually link these important processes into their EA practices. For example, how do you interweave service management processes (ITIL/MOF) with EA best practices in an organization that is just starting out an EA effort.

In my opinion it all comes down to the people (James eludes to this as well). There is a direct correlation to the organizational structure, culture and education of the people to the amount and extent of process. This will determine the roadmap of how much or how little process you should have.

Remember people should drive the process not the other way around.

Tags: Enterprise Architecture