Browse All Posts In: TOGAF® 9

There are some things in TOGAF that confuse practitioners over and over. The difference between scope and partition is one of those confusions that comes up as a regular question. In this blog we explain the key differences, and explain why TOGAF can be confusing.

When we focus on teaching and learning TOGAF we sometimes forget that TOGAF is just one aspect of enterprise architecture in general. This blog explains why we need to remember that TOGAF is part of EA, but EA is more than TOGAF.​

For some companies, the New Year coincides with the start of their planning year, and there are still many companies that go through an annual reorganization of the management structure charts. In any case, New Year is a good time to take stock and think about the future - so here are my recommendations for using TOGAF as your guide.

TOGAF is largely about identifying and documenting architecture requirements... but what is an Architectural Requirement? Frequently we document requirements, not "architecture" requirements! In this blog I explain what we need to do to make requirements architectural.

Architects sometimes see the ADM as reactive, but EA should never be passive - it needs to respond to concerns, but add architectural thinking and then make a unique contribution to stakeholder needs. This blog explains some of the proactive aspects of ADM that are not so obvious.

TOGAF describes three types of architecture role. Two of these types - Enterprise and Solution - are often used in the job title for architects, but it is rare to find someone called a Segment Architect. If you are confused about this missing role... read on, and all will be revealed.

Sometimes people find it difficult to see the unique contribution of EA. So what is it that makes EA distinctive? Here are five things that the best enterprise architects do, and some tips from TOGAF on how you can follow their example.

TOGAF makes a big point of the need for good stakeholder management, devoting the whole of Chapter 24 to the subject, while Step 2 in Phase A: Architecture Vision describes the process to Identify Stakeholders, Concerns, and Business Requirements.

A lingua franca is the language, adopted as common, between speakers whose native languages are different but how useful is TOGAF as an Esperanto go-between language for enterprise architects from different backgrounds?

You started out using TOGAF, you’ve completed an iteration of the ADM for your first EA project and things went well, do you really need to revisit the Preliminary Phase again or can you save time by getting on straightaway with Phases A to H?