Australian Architecture Forum - Enterprise Architecture and Cloud Computing

There has been alot of traffic and discussion regarding cloud computing over the recent months, and at the Australian Architecture Forum (AAF) event in August - Tim Rubin facilitated an Open Space Workshop that aimed to cover some of the main discussion areas:

• Impact of the Cloud on EA Agenda
• What is Cloud Computing?
  
• Why should Enterprise Architecture care?

Cloud Computing is often characterized by: Virtualized computing resources, Multi-tenancy, limitless capacity/scalability, Self-service, Dynamic provisioning, Pay-for-use pricing.

Much of the discussion generated by the attendees during the open space session was around some of the following points:

1. When Cloud Computing may be a fit - particularly around the profiles of applications, security and data, the sorts of commercial models that need to be considered and discussion around Infrastructure vs Application as a service models
2. How Cloud Computing differs from “old” approaches - eg ASP and Outsourcing etc
3. Does IT Matter - the diminishing role of the datacentre support team and impact on ongoing operation

The more that I delve into the topic of cloud computing, the more that I ask is

does cloud computing = outsourcing 2.0?

AAF - Enterprise Architecture and Cloud Computing

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Australian Architecture Forum - Pragmatic Enterprise Architecture

In August, Tim Rubin and I ran a couple of the open space breakout sessions as Part of the Australian Architecture Forum in both Melbourne and Sydney. The first being around Pragmatic Enterprise Architect, the second regarding Cloud Computing. Not surprising the interest and the inter-relationship between the 2 topics gathered alot of interest and open discussion.

In Pragmatic Enterprise Architecture, I positioned a quote that I like from Gartner, where they suggest that
Just Enough models should be created Just In Time to address the specific (Business Driven Requirements) - Gartner 2005

exploring this further, a lot of time can be spent building artifacts that have little or no impact on business outcome and as such we need to think carefully about how much is built out. I suggested the following 6 steps

1. Identify the Business Strategy and Objective
   
2. Establish an EA program/requirement
3. Define the "Future State" Architecture (Don't spend too much time dwelling and documenting the past)
   
4. Define the EA Roadmap (Linked to business benefits)
5. Establish EA Governance (ensuring measurement and attainment of business priorities)

The key to Enterprise Architecture is not the volume or the number of artifacts that you create, but the pragmatism and ability to action them!

Pragmatic Enterprise Architecture

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