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map showing practitioner's journey highlighting begin the journey

Practitioner: Begin The Journey

Summary
Whether you are transitioning into the business architect role, ready to take your business architecture career to the next level, or are a fully seasoned business architecture expert, we are delighted you’re here. The business architecture journey is an exciting and rewarding one – practiced by an impressive community of professionals who seek to make a difference in their organizations and the world.

If you’re new to it, the whole topic of business architecture can seem a bit overwhelming, but the Practitioner Learning Pathway will break it down for you one step at a time. We will try to get you over the learning curve as quickly as possible, because we know that ultimately your goal as a business architecture practitioner is to deliver real business value and outcomes. On the other hand, if you’re already in the business architecture world, you can skim across the learning pathway for new ideas and insights to inform your thinking and keep up with the latest in global thought. You may also want to focus on the later steps in the learning path for considering career path options, collaborating with others and giving back.

The Practitioner Learning Pathway begins with Steps 1, 2 and 3 which provide a critical foundation for your career and success as a business architecture practitioner. Consider performing Steps 1 and 2 in parallel, and potentially even Step 3 if you are already in the role. In Steps 4 and 5, you become an experienced practitioner and deliver tremendous value to your organization while also shifting mindsets and ways of working over time. Once you’ve achieved a level of competence and success in the role, you can consider career path options in Step 6. Steps 7 and 8 are about collaborating with and giving back to others. This is a great way to advance and bring meaning to your career – and you can start doing so now even if you are not a seasoned expert .

Depending on your situation, your journey as a practitioner may coincide with the journey of your organization’s business practice. If so, refer to the Practice Learning Pathway for other activities and resources within the broader context, especially during Steps 1 through 4.

1 Learn & Certify

In Step 1, gain breadth and depth in understanding all-things business architecture, such as what it is and is not, how it can be used, how business architecture is structured and relates to other domains, and where it fits within an enterprise context. Also, attain level 1 Certified Business Architect® certification.

Other Resources and Activities

2 See It In Action

In Step 2, delve further to explore the potential value and usage scenarios for business architecture as well as see how other organizations are leveraging it. Also explore related integration points with other disciplines and teams.

Key Resources

Please visit our Library section to explore the list of business architecture usage scenarios. Simply filter by the Usage category. Also, filter by Alignment category to explore the connections to related disciplines and teams.

Other Resources and Activities

Browse the presentations from previous Business Architecture Innovation Summits shared by other organizations demonstrating how they have leveraged business architecture for value. (See Business Architecture Guild® Public Resources page.)

3 Perform The Role

In Step 3, step into the business architect role and start practicing business architecture, either formally or informally, to gain experience in building business architecture and applying it to business usage scenarios to deliver value.

Performing the Role 

Building Business Architecture 

  • StraightTalk No. 12 – A Map of the World, Part 1: Back to School With Mapping the Core Business Architecture Foundation
  • StraightTalk No. 51 – What’s In A Word: How to Create a Capability Map That Unlocks New Value
  • StraightTalk No. 52 – Putting the Pieces Together: Business Objects As The Glue For A Business Architecture
  • StraightTalk No. 63 – The Enterprise Advocate: How Business Architecture Brings Clarity to Customers and Products
  • StraightTalk No. 84 – The Value Mindset: Demystifying the Business Architecture Value Stream
  • StraightTalk No. 22 – Speedy Business Architecture, Part 1 — Accelerating Business Architecture Development With Reference Models
  • StraightTalk No. 23 – Speedy Business Architecture, Part 2 — Accelerating Business Architecture Development With Tools
  • StraightTalk No. 85 – Demystifying An Organization: The Business Architecture Take on Organization Mapping
  • StraightTalk No. 49 – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Dos and Don’ts For Establishing a Business Architecture
  • StraightTalk No. 54 – Us and Us: “The Business Architecture of IT”
  • StraightTalk No. 70 – Raison d‘être: The How and Why of Business Architecture Stakeholder Mapping
  • StraightTalk No. 53 – Ecosystem Is The New Organization: How Business Architecture #Capabilities and #ValueStreams Can Connect Everything
  • StraightTalk No. 83 – Overcoming Cognitive Dissonance
  • Hit the Ground Running! Business Architecture Development report
  • Scaling Business Architecture: Establishing a Foundation for Success Guild white paper (see Business Architecture Guild® Public Resources page)

Other Resources and Activities

Up next: Apply The Discipline