Low-Hanging Fruit

Picking the low-hanging fruit first is the key to your Enterprise Architecture (EA) program credibility. When starting your enterprise architecture program, identifying and resolving your organization’s pain points will add credibility to your initiative.

Identifying and Resolving Pain Points

Understanding the organization’s pain points and addressing them with EA can build a tremendous amount of credibility to your EA program. In the beginning, it is very important to understand which issues can be addressed easily and quickly. For example, something as simple as a charter for an Architecture Review Board (ARB) can help all stakeholders understand the scope, roles, and responsibilities for the ARB. In my experience, this simple deliverable was enough to set a clear scope and direction for this governance group. Better decisions and more efficient meetings resulted from this change.

Address issues that require minimal effort, like writing a charter, first. Choose two or three pain points that can be resolved through the EA program within 30 days at the beginning of your implementation. The Enterprise Architect and EA program’s credibility is absolutely critical for success. Pick the low-hanging fruit early in the project to buy time for the larger and more important changes.

Pragmatic Advice

• Look for simple fixes such as a roles and responsibilities document or a simple phone call to a stakeholder in the beginning.
• Communicate the quick win.
• Address the pain points within the first 30 days of your program’s kick-off.
• Use Steven Covey's high-level prioritization scheme to identify important and urgent needs.