Enterprise Architecture remains mandatory in the U.S. government,  but this reminds me of 2 architecture overlays essential for EA success: Political Architecture and Incentives Architecture,  2 terms I created while supporting the EA program at the United Nations a few years ago.

Right now the Political Architecture has led to EA moving backwards in government for the past 10+ years. This was despite having a Federal Chief Enterprise Architect,  but one with no staff or budget, Dr. Scott Bernard. He succeeded in issuing an optional “Common Approach” to Federal EA in 2012, but there has been mostly silence since then.

In terms of Incentives Architecture,  CIOs used to be scored on their EA programs 10+ years ago, but FITARA (Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act) implementation is now the main CIO responsibility for an annual scorecard. FITARA doesn’t mention EA, which is a shame because EA is a critical enabler of such transformation initiatives. 

A main item on most Federal CIOs’ agendas is Digital Transformation (DT). Unfortunately, EA is not explicitly promoted in most places as key to DT. Therefore, EA is not generally getting the attention or top-level support needed for its success in this or other related modernization initiatives in government. 

A revealing development at the annual Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo event in Orlando is the disapprance of EA vendors from the massive exhibit halls in 2019, after seeing the number decreasing systematically year after year for about 10 years.

In short, EA is far from a booming business for most vendors or consultants as attention moves more toward Design Thinking, Model-Based Systems Engineering, Digital Transformation, and more domain-specific areas of, in particular,  Application Architecture,  Technical/Platform Architecture,  and Data Architecture,  with Business Process Modeling representing the heart of Business Architecture. 

We need to bolster the EA discipline in the Federal government because it is the canvas for planning, implementing, and governing all the above areas. More EA Ambassadors/Evangelists/Champions are desperately needed to get Federal CIO attention to EA’s value proposition.

For the EA programs that do currently exist or are being planned in Federal agencies, authoritative education and training is more important than ever. EA Principals is proud to offer the most efficient and effective FEA Certification program on the market today. Gaining FEA certification is a huge step forward for the maturing and sustainable success of otherwise threatened EA programs. 

Authored by Dr. Steve Else, Chief Architect & Principal Instructor