The implication of Innovation is creating something that has not before existed and it is challenging even to visualize something that has not existed.  Many people are challenged by the “blank sheet of paper” syndrome … so how does one begin?  How do you unleash creativity?  Start with components that can be rearranged into something never before conceived.  Enterprise Architecture is that set of unconstructed components that can be molded into an infinite variety of structured realities, much like the set of elements of the Periodic Table that can be structured into an infinite variety of compounds, the domain of building blocks that can be shaped into implementations never before conceived by anyone.  It is the catalyst for creativity.

But the word “Unleashing” also implies a reality, not only conceived, but realized.  In the case of Enterprises, something always already exists. The very concept of “enterprise” embodies the idea of an undertaking, requiring effort and purpose to generate value either in the sense of revenue, or product, or service.  Enterprise is not something that exists only in someone’s mind or garage.  Enterprise IS.  Therefore ANY innovation not only implies, but demands change, structural change as well as behavioral change.  The risk of any change is failure, abrupt failure, typically due to unintended consequences.  In early computer history, we used to call these “abends.”  Enterprise “abends” can be cataclysmic.

For 7,000 years of known history, Architecture is the only known device for predicting and precluding unintended consequences of change, that is “abends.”

Learning Objectives:

• Experience the “doing” of Enterprise Architecture
• Architecture is not arbitrary and not negotiable
• Architecture elements can be rapidly restructured for simulation and risk mitigation before investing resources
• Diagnosis and prescription” are the domains of Professionals (and the purpose of Architecture) – “application” is labor