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Okay, thanks to Post No. 6 we know all about business architects. Now let’s talk about how we assemble them into an all-star cast to make magic.

So what does a business architect do anyway? There are three focus areas of the business architect role in any organization: applying business architecture to various scenarios (a.k.a. “architecting”), building the business architecture knowledgebase and creating the business architecture practice infrastructure.

The bottom line is that to be successful, business architects cannot work as an isolated function. It’s not about creating enterprise maps and expecting magic to happen when people see them. Business architects work within a bigger ecosystem and must always remain cognizant of their role as an enabler of other teams.

Knowing what business architecture is: Check.
Knowing why we do it: Check.
Knowing where it fits within the strategy execution life cycle: Double Check. Knowing where to start: Not so much.

Starting business architecture within an organization can be a fairly organic process, but there are a proven set of steps to follow.

“Houston, we have a problem.” “Uh, this is Houston. Uh, say again please.” We have a strategy execution problem. Remember that whole deal in Post No. 2 about how constant change is the new normal as customer expectations increase and the external environment evolves at an escalating pace? That means the ability for organizations to get their ideas—things like strategies, transformations, innovations and regulatory changes—into action has never been more important than it is right now.

Why should we do business architecture? Good one. That’s the million-dollar question. Simon Sinek says, “Start With Why.” A big part of the answer is not just why business architecture is so important, but why it is so important now, so we’ll start there.

According to the Federation of Enterprise Architecture Professional Organizations (FEAPO), “Business Architecture represents holistic, multidimensional business views of: capabilities, end-to-end value delivery, information, and organizational structure; and the relationships among these business views and strategies, products, policies, initiatives, and stakeholders.”