The thinking behind the platform.
Twenty articles on enterprise architecture practice — what it is, how it works and how to build it. Every idea here is something the AMBIT Platform puts to work. Read in order, or use any one as a reference. The articles build on the empirical research of Svyatoslav Kotusev.
The alignment problem is structural
Why better project management cannot solve a problem that lives above the project level.
02Enterprise architecture as a communication practice
The artefacts, processes, and governance bodies of an EA practice are all means to one end.
03Introducing AMBIT
Six interlocking practice domains, one coherent methodology, grounded in empirical evidence.
Six artefact types — the Alignment Matrix
Every planning document in a functioning EA practice fits in a 3×2 grid.
05Action artefacts and reality artefacts
The most fundamental distinction in the matrix determines everything about how artefacts are produced and governed.
06The D-E-A pattern
Discuss, Elaborate, Align — the three-step process that makes planning decisions legitimate.
Strategic Alignment
Translating business direction into a prioritised IT investment portfolio.
08Initiative Alignment
From funded intent to designed and delivered IT solution — in two distinct steps.
09Technology Alignment
The process that prevents landscape decay — and why most organisations skip it.
10The four governance forums
Governance that ratifies decisions already made — not governance that makes them.
11Architecture debt
Every deviation from the strategic direction has a future cost. Most organisations don't know theirs.
Business Factors and Business Visions
The strategic layer — developed last by most organisations, needed first by all of them.
13Business Outlines
The investment case document — and why most organisations get the level of detail wrong.
14IT Standards and IT Landscapes
The technical infrastructure of a coherent IT estate.
Two hats every architect wears
Technology Expert and Change Agent — why neither can be delegated.
16Five architect archetypes
Who does what in a mature architecture function — and which roles to hire in what order.
17Governance forums in practice
What good governance looks like — and the four failure modes that tell you something is wrong.
Establishing a practice
The two paths — historical and deliberate — and the six conditions that make any artefact type stick.
19The maturity test
Five questions for business executives that tell you whether your practice is actually working.
20AMBIT as a living framework
What it means to build a methodology on empirical foundations — and the obligation that creates.
Run your practice on AMBIT. Start with the mandate.
Try the live demo today, or ask about pilot access. Prefer hands-on help? HighGrain can set the practice up with you.