How enterprise architecture provides you with more, for doing less?
It seems to be part of the human condition (for everyone apart from LinkedIn influencers with a “hustle from 4 am mentality”), that we want more for doing less. No-one wants to be a busy fool; what we want is a free lunch. And dinner. And drinks.
Tragically, this utopia is still someway off – our benevolent robot friends are not yet quite able to carry out all the activities science fiction proposes – we must look for alternative options. In a business context, this means finding ways to streamline, simplify and (where possible) rely on technology to do the heavy lifting. The correct application of enterprise architecture makes this possible.
The Principle of Least Effort and Zipf’s Law
This notion that humans (and animals and even machines) choose the path of least resistance is not particularly new or just the mantra of some teenage slackers. The principle of least effort was originally identified by Gullauma Ferrero in the late 1800s, before being expounded by George Zipf whose eponymous law hypotheses our use of language and the distribution of words is indicative of looking to communicate efficiently with the least effort.
What is the relevance of this to enterprise architecture? Well once the right architecture is in place, it provides a baseline for quality, process, and methodology. The business is provided with insight into its operations: duplication of work, circuitous processes, and toolchain sprawl are all revealed. Removing wasted effort becomes a straightforward clinical exercise.
Let Enterprise Architecture Do the Heavy Lifting
Once unnecessary time consuming and costly excesses have been eliminated, the business can now look at how to drive innovation. Staff are freed from mundane, bureaucratic processes and able to focus on their job; creating a happier more motivated workforce focused on delivering business value and inventive solutions.
An effective enterprise architecture lays the foundations for teams to evaluate their work and determine what will be of most use to the business. With clear visibility across the business and how different projects intercede, staff can prioritize on high value low complexity tasks.
Enterprise architecture establishes a single source of truth in an otherwise chaotic landscape, and utilizing a centralized repository for the initiative enables the business to plan and map its future goals. The newfound transparency encourages collaboration as staff can work together on clearly defined and relevant projects.
Moreover, storing data from different sources and keeping it updated automatically removes vast swathes of grunt admin work. Putting the appropriate tooling in place alleviates the pressures placed on the business and allows individuals to make meaningful decisions. Ultimately, reports and dashboards can be generated with consummate ease, facilitating real-time, insight-led analysis.