Four misunderstandings about Enterprise Architecture

Modernizing government institutions with Enterprise Architecture (EA) has proven much more difficult than the evangelists have claimed. EA is not a clear-cut movement that can be adopted by any organization with similar results. EA implementation is context dependent and typically comes with as much frustrations and desperation as accomplishments and joy. Against the background of cultural theory – and the writings of Hood – four misunderstandings about EA can be identified:
1) EA is a clear-cut movement
2) EA is unavoidable and irreversible
3) EA will lead to convergence, with the same ’methods’ appearing everywhere
4) EA is beneficent and welcomed by all
My practical and academic expertises with EA have told me that people often want to be deceived. We worship new things that we can associate with progress and/or innovation. But, powerful forces of path-dependency and self-disequilibration – that is the, the capacity of management reform initiatives to produce the opposite of their intended results – often come in our way. If we can clear up the four misunderstandings I outlined above we might achieve more accomplishments and joy than frustrations and desperation in our EA endeavours. Lets give it a try!