One of the rules of quantum physics is that events change as they are observed. Is it likely that enterprise architectures are changed by those observing it?
Yes, says Brian Hopkins, writing at the CIO site, who makes an interesting point about the parallel between quantum
mechanics and enterprise architecture. That is, the shape of enterprise architecture is most
likely to be influenced by those observing it. And, inevitably, a
service oriented architecture will take a different shape, depending on
whether it is being observed by a business team, technical team, or data
team.
That's why the job of the enterprise architect is so important -- he or she needs to see the problem and solution from all angles, be they technical, business, or data-centric. As Hopkins put it:
"A business and data perspective on the same problem may yield different, but complementary solution approaches. This is the heart of Enterprise Architecture - the ability to look at things both holistically, and from various views to come up with an architecture that is complete. Not fixated on a single solution to a perceived technology problem, EA should solve business problems with business solutions where technology plays a role."
As if we didn't any reminders of the importance of the role of
the enterprise architect, who keep projects from diving too deep into
the technical weeds, or from becoming unwieldy or unworkable. And -- to invoke another tried-and-true law of physics, Occam's Razor -- EAs need to be adept at cutting through all the confusion, politics, and second-guess to arrive at the simplest solution to the problem, which in most cases is the right solution.
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