Key takeaways
- The four purposes are strategy, portfolio, project, and solution delivery.
- They frame the horizon, breadth, and depth of an Architecture Project, and the contents of the Repository.
- The strategy purpose targets a three-to-ten-year horizon and spans many programs.
- Portfolio: identify and align projects; project: value and dependencies; solution: design and constraints.
- The parallel strategy–Strategic, portfolio–Segment, project/solution–Capability eases reasoning.
Why reason by purpose
The same team can produce very different architectures depending on the need served. Executive management expects an end-to-end vision over several years; a project manager expects requirements and constraints usable right away. Identifying the purpose from the start avoids delivering too much detail to one and too little to the other.
The four purposes therefore frame three project parameters: its planning horizon, its breadth, and its depth. They also guide the contents of the Repository, since the deliverables kept are not the same for a strategic roadmap and for a solution specification.
The four purposes in detail
The purposes range from the broadest to the most focused. They are recognized mainly by what they span and how the architecture is used.
- EA to Support Strategy: end-to-end Target and roadmaps over three to ten years; spans many programs or portfolios; used to identify initiatives, set their terms of reference, spot synergies, and govern strategy execution
- EA to Support Portfolio: cross-functional, multi-phase, multi-project initiatives; spans one portfolio; used to identify projects, align their approaches, and govern their execution
- EA to Support Project: fits the project delivery method; spans one project; used to clarify its value, identify synergy and dependency requirements, ensure compliance and alignment across projects
- EA to Support Solution Delivery: supports solution deployment; spans one project or a significant part; defines how the change is designed and delivered, with constraints, controls, and Architecture Requirements, then acts as a governance framework
Telling neighboring purposes apart
The most frequent confusions involve neighboring pairs. Strategy and portfolio both identify work to launch, but strategy spans several portfolios and programs whereas portfolio identifies projects inside a single one. Project and solution delivery both span one project, but the first clarifies the project’s value and dependencies, while the second describes the concrete design of the change.
These purposes can be related to the Landscape levels: strategy naturally matches the Strategic level, portfolio the Segment level, and both project and solution the Capability level. This parallel helps reasoning without being a strict rule.
TERMS TO KNOW
The terms, in context.
- EA to Support Strategy
- Purpose providing an end-to-end Target and multi-year roadmaps.
- EA to Support Portfolio
- Purpose supporting multi-project initiatives within one portfolio.
- EA to Support Project
- Purpose supporting the enterprise’s project delivery method.
- EA to Support Solution Delivery
- Purpose defining the design and deployment of a solution.
- Terms of reference
- The mandate of an initiative: objectives, scope, responsibilities.