Architecture Principles

Intro

Architecture Principles are statements of intent that guide design and decision‑making. In EA, they provide guardrails that balance agility with consistency.

Key points:

• Clarify priorities and desired architectural qualities
• Enable consistent decisions across teams
• Common use cases: cloud adoption principles, data ownership rules, integration patterns, security by design
• Pitfall: vague or unenforced principles become wallpaper

Examples:

• “Prefer open standards over proprietary protocols”
• “Data has a single accountable owner”
• “APIs first for internal and external integration”

In practice:

Embed principles into Enterprise Architecture reviews and templates.

Related terms: Governance; Reference Architecture; Standards

FAQs:

Q: How many principles should we have?
A: A concise set (e.g., 6–12) that are specific and enforceable.

Q: How to enforce them?
A: Tie to governance checkpoints and design templates.

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