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Today’s technology leader must consider whether their organization is adaptive, innovative, and capable of dealing with today’s ever-changing world.
It’s been a cliché lately that we live in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous times. But it is no less true. Organizations around the world face increasing financial headwinds and a turbulent social and political landscape. Economic stress brings the need for efficiency, but too much inefficiency leads to breakage, as we recently saw in the supply chain.
Our research shows that customer-centric organizations remain more competitive and profitable than their peers; Such organizations will drive their technology strategies to be more adaptive, innovative and resilient. To these ends, organizations are transforming their legacy IT operating models into modern technology delivery capabilities, including:
- Agile and DevOpsEvolving over the past 20 years, these new software-based systems delivery methods have proven dominant and are increasingly influencing non-technical domains.
- Product and platform groupsWe are moving from a focus on software methodology to a fundamental shift in the IT operating model, and a product-centric approach is being adopted by organizations large and small around the world.
- The Revival of Enterprise Architecture.: The rise of agile, DevOps and product centralization mean more autonomous teams, but this can lead to a sprawling and unmanageable attack surface – increasingly, Forrester’s clients are reinventing architectural practices not to slow down innovation, but to lay down security paths and define strategic platforms. .
Agile and DevOps have been key influences for some time – two decades for Agile and 10 years for DevOps. This is long enough as they start showing up in the data. Forrester’s Modern Technology Operations Survey clearly indicates that digital high performers are more likely to adopt isolation or DevOps change in cultural and technical practices. This information is supported by many other industry studies. In my mind, there is no reasonable doubt about the superiority of these practices in delivering IT products.
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One of the important evolutionary trends in the agile and DevOps worlds is the trend towards product teams: autonomous, empowered, multi-professional and long-lived delivery teams. Transitioning to this new paradigm requires more than a software methodology or framework: it requires a new operating model, adapting to multiple dimensions in terms of organizational practices and priorities. Large corporate firms such as Disney, JPMorgan Chase, Shell and Target are switching to this new approach in 2016 or earlier. In an increasingly volatile and uncertain world, they want a model that is more suited to the continuous experimentation required to deliver exciting experiences to customers.
Organizations must revisit traditional operating practices
This change is not easy. Organizations must revisit long-standing, traditional operating practices. They must question many of their assumptions about specialization, process management, workflow and collaboration, coordination, measurement, finance, culture, governance, and more. They must accept an increased level of autonomy within their product teams as they seek to maintain alignment between larger corporate goals and value streams.
This need for alignment has led to a significant increase in interest in enterprise architecture in recent times. A common recent question goes something like this: “We scrapped enterprise architecture five to seven years ago because it was too high-handed and had unclear value.” We are fixing it now. How to Avoid the ‘Ivory Tower’ Trap?
Yet there are few skills in modern technology that are more conflicted than enterprise architecture. EA teams, in many cases, fail to define the value of their activities. Stories abound of EA organizations falling apart because they care about the purity of the ivory tower architecture rather than delivering it to customers.
And yet, for every EA team’s sad coming-of-age story, I hear of two companies establishing (or reviving!) their enterprise architecture practices.
Why do companies establish – or renew – their EA practices?
Forrester believes that enterprise architecture is a critical enabler for companies looking to scale and stay competitive over extended horizons. The initial shift to agile and DevOps has resulted in highly effective digital delivery. But the local optimization of agile teams has resulted in a fragmented organizational landscape.
As one executive recently interviewed by Forrester said: “Agile teams work amazingly and creatively. We have provided many tools to get things done quickly and efficiently. However, I tend to find that they make me less resilient.
Another executive agreed: “In the new agile model, issues of classical IT architecture such as availability, reliability, robustness and supportability often take a backseat to purely functional considerations.”
Uncoordinated groups can use their weapon of choice, which translates into an expanded attack surface. Related concerns around technology lifecycle management and technical debt are seeing a resurgence of interest. With techniques such as capability analysis and portfolio management, architecture provides the necessary discipline to address these issues.
Next steps for high performing EA teams
Ultimately, high-performing EA teams must clearly connect their work to business value and business outcomes, and stand on fundamental principles. Only then can EA translate its capabilities into transparent services that add real value to digital transformation organizations. Our goal is to help the modern architect influence complex digital delivery organizations toward greater sustainability and long-term efficiency.
Today’s technology leader must consider whether their organization is adaptive, innovative, and capable of dealing with today’s ever-changing world. Your digital operating model may require intervention to deliver innovation at the pace this market demands. Assess your current capabilities and practices, and if innovation is stifled and over-controlled, consider a product-centric, agile and DevOps-compatible operating model in conjunction with renewed EA capabilities to maintain overall alignment.
For more Forrester insights for technology executives, visit here. Learn more about how technology leaders can overcome EA’s challenges at the Forrester Technology & Innovation North America Forum, September 29-30, 2022.
Charles Baez is VP and Director of Research, leading Forrester’s enterprise architecture initiative. His research is on IT operating model change, especially the impact of agile, DevOps and product thinking. He previously led Forrester’s DevOps and Enterprise Service Management coverage. Prior to joining Forrester, Charles was a Principal Architect with ATT’s Signature Client Group where he was responsible for technical strategy with 100 of Forrester’s clients. The author of two books, Charles holds a BA in Political Science and a BA in Software Engineering, both from the University of Minnesota, and is an adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota).
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