By Loren K. Baynes, Director, Global Marketing Communications, The Open Group
The Enterprise Architecture Practitioners Summit, Hybrid Event (in-person and virtually ) in London brought together a variety of speakers, topics, and discussion points surrounding Enterprise Architecture (EA).
Steve Nunn, President and CEO, The Open Group, gave an engaging and stirring address revolving around The State of The Open Group and also the President’s Awards. He set the scene of what was to come for the days ahead, while also hinting at some exciting news to come. He also extended gratitude to staff, those in attendance of the event, for joining the EA Practitioners Summit.
As for the President’s awards, the winners included Fujitsu for ‘Most Valuable Contribution as an Organization’ and also Rob Akershoek for ‘Most Valuable Contributor Award for an Individual’, in relation to being an active contributor of the forum, making IT4IT flow. Congratulations to all the nominees for their participation in The Open Group initiatives over the years. We would not be able to accomplish the work that we do or create the standards that are helping to drive the technology industry, without working together to achieve our vision of open standards.
Mark Dickson (Forum Director, Architecture, The Open Group) then followed on nicely from Steve, our President and CEO, in touching on the TOGAF® Standard, and even shared some exciting details surrounding the TOGAF® Standard, 10th Edition. This moment was certainly a definitive highlight of the day along with Steve Nunn’s moving speech. For the full press release please see link here: https://www.opengroup.org/open-group-host-live-and-virtual-enterprise-architecture-practitioners-summit-0
In summary, Mark focused on the TOGAF® Standard, 10th Edition, and its expansion and extension of where we have been in the past. He further wanted to literate that the TOGAF Standard is still the same one as you recognize it. Highlighting that what we have introduced is the introduction of the concepts of the fundamental content, 20 new TOGAF Series Guides offering domain specific guidance including digital architecture and much more. For further information, visit www.opengroup.org/togaf to download the new version of the standard.
Up next was Chris Forde, General Manager Asia Pacific Region & VP Enterprise Architecture connecting from Shanghai , where he discussed the importance of investing in new approaches, learning and up-skilling for organizations undertaking digital transformations with the TOGAF® Standard, surrounding ‘Unlocking the Learning for Digital Enterprise with EA. Following suit from ‘new approaches’ was
Dave Lounsbury (Consultant, Digital Business Strategy, TD Consulting), who posed ‘5 Questions to Ask your Enterprise Architects’, Dave Lounsbury, which really got many of the Enterprise Architects thinking, as he gave a very engaging presentation on the types of questions.
Dave then went on to explain the main reason for using standards to succeed, where he quoted Kees van den Brink to add more weight to the questions he was positioning towards the audience.
- Learn what you can from each standard
- Apply only what is relevant to your situation
- Reject what does not fit
- Adapt the models to the unique aspects of your organization
Kees van den Brink all standards are wrong- https://blog.opengroup.org/2022/03/23/all-standards-are-wrong/
We then went into a break, which was a perfect opportunity for many to pivot any questions towards Steve Nunn, that they wanted to ask him following his thought provoking welcome address. Afterwards, we were thrown back into the action, with Gunnar Menzel (Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, Capgemini). His particular presentation focused on some of the following questions, which really helped us to better understand ‘The Importance of EA’. His questions included: What is Enterprise Architecture? Why should organizations invest into increasing their EA capability? What value does an EA capability provide and how to successfully establish one?
We then got to hear from Gordon Barnett (Principal Analyst, FCCA, Forrester ), who provided us with a very nice follow through presentation, leading itself nicely after hearing from Menzel before. Barnett, touched on ‘the State of the Global EA’.
For further reading please see Forrester’s annual State of Enterprise Architecture Survey gives an inside look at the current state of enterprise architecture. https://www.forrester.com/blogs/ea-is-key-to-being-future-fit-does-your-function-measure-up/
Next up was Sharm Manwani (Executive Professor of IT and Digital Leadership, Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK) and Oliver Bossert (Partner, McKinsey & Co.) Sharm was not able to attend, thus Oliver carried the presentation. Finally, Oliver ended with a call-to-action for those in attendance to complete the EA Survey to compare your progress in these 5 areas with EA and Digital Leaders. The survey can be found here. The evening concluded with a networking session which provided a great space for reconnecting with colleagues and meeting new ones.
Day Two
On the final day, we turned our attention to the TOGAF® User Group | AEA® Showcase where the event focused on the TOGAF Standard, Enabling Enterprise Agility, and more. Following an opening session with Steve Nunn welcomed everyone back and touched on the previous day’s very exciting announcement regarding the TOGAF Standard, 10th Edition, while also mentioning that interest has already started building.
Steve then introduced Andreas Poth (Chief Product Expert Product Engineering SAP) ‘Use of the TOGAF Standard in the SAP EA Framework’. One of the highlights of his presentation included the 4 areas of the framework, giving a fitting background for each one.
Next up was, Chris Frost, CTO Global Technology, Fujitsu, who highlighted The TOGAF Standard being a flexible framework for architecture that can be used with agile delivery frameworks to help enterprises react more quickly to changing market environments and value propositions. This session focused on how to adapt practices to fit modern agile frameworks for architects.
We then heard from Andrew Lewthwaite Software Consultant and Support Engineer, Avolution UK, who discussed Tackling Technical Debt – A Guide for Enterprise Architects. A very useful and needed presentation in today’s world. Followed by Rolf Knoll (Head of Practice Area EAM, Novatec Consulting GmbH) who talked about ‘Effectively Using the TOGAF® and ArchiMate® Standards Together’. His presentation focused on how to build an efficient EA framework by combining the TOGAF® and ArchiMate® Standards.
Mick Adams (Associate Partner, EY), then gave a very stimulating presentation On the ‘Government Reference Model’. The Government Reference Model (GRM) gives public sector organizations a common way to view themselves in order to plan and execute effective transformational change. His main focus involved highlighting what was different about the new standard, involving outlining modular structure, expanded content, and domain-specific material.
Bringing things into a global perspective was Birgit Hartje (GM, AEA – Association of Enterprise Architects), who talked about how the global AEA provides its members with the credibility, recognition, and benefits of an international community of professionals. Showcase activities of AEA Chapters and testimonials by AEA members. Her presentation also included some in-depth call to actions:
- Join and promote the AEA
- Start, join, or participate in a Chapter globalaea.org/chapters
- Lead or participate in a working group
- Author, read, and edit the Journal of Enterprise Architecture
- Request your digital credential as an attendee – speaker.openbadges@globalaea.org
Finally, we ended the summit on a high with an interactive ‘EA for Uncertainty Workshop’ presented by Neal Fishman CTO Consulting, IBM, and Paul Homan CTO for Industrial Sector, IBM Services UK & Ireland. His workshop focused on how should an Enterprise Architect plan for an unknowable changing future and avoid the situational hind-sight predicament of “I wish I had thought about that”.
Huge thanks goes to our sponsors – the Association of Enterprise Architects (AEA) and Van Haren Publishing, LeanIX, MEGA, and Avolution. Thanks also to our speakers, Members, event attendees, and staff! Although it has been a while, it certainly felt like little time had passed when catching up with attendees and colleagues. It was not only great to see everyone in person who could attend, but it was also moving and humbling to see how many of you thoroughly missed these events.
Proceedings will be available to Members and attendees week of May 2, 2022.
The next quarterly event will take place in Washington, DC from July 25-27, 2022. The topics will include Zero Trust Architecture, Supply Chain Security, and Government Enterprise Architecture. Stay tuned for the agenda, and how to register. We’re excited to see you there!
Loren K. Baynes, Director, Global Marketing Communications, joined The Open Group in 2013 and spearheads corporate marketing initiatives, primarily the website, blog, media relations, and social media.
Loren has over 25 years experience in brand marketing and public relations and, prior to The Open Group, was with The Walt Disney Company for over 10 years. Loren holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Texas A&M University. She is based in the US.
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