Key takeaways
- Architecture Principles are drafted by architects with stakeholders and approved by the Architecture Board.
- They are produced in the Preliminary Phase and used throughout the ADM.
- Four purposes: decision-making, alignment, governance, understanding values and culture.
- The hierarchy starts with Enterprise Principles; a lower-level principle cannot go beyond them.
- Each principle traces back to business objectives and architecture drivers.
General rules, produced early and approved
A principle is a general rule or guideline, meant to last and rarely changed, that guides how the organization fulfils its mission. Architecture Principles apply to architecture work: they frame the development, maintenance, and use of the Enterprise Architecture.
They are drafted by Enterprise Architects together with key stakeholders, after which the Architecture Board gives its approval. The Preliminary Phase produces them, which lets them steer the whole ADM cycle from Phase A onwards. They are not frozen, though: Phase A can confirm or supplement them for the scope of the work undertaken.
Four purposes to recognize
Exam questions often describe a situation and ask which purpose is served. Remember the keyword for each one.
- Enabling decision-making: setting precedence in trade-offs and acting as a tie-breaker
- Aligning the enterprise: removing subjectivity and bias for objective discussions, true to shared values
- Ensuring governance: surfacing the right decisions at the right time with the right decision-makers, and monitoring them
- Understanding values and culture: revealing what the enterprise values and how it reacts to change
A hierarchy of principles
The hierarchy starts with Enterprise Principles, which harmonize decisions across the organization and are a pillar of a sound Architecture Governance strategy. Below them there may be principles specific to a domain or unit: IT, HR, domestic or overseas operations.
Each level inherits the principles of the level above, refines them, and cannot step outside them. Architecture Principles translate the spirit of Enterprise Principles into a form that is useful for architecture development, reflect a consensus, and form the basis for future decisions. Each must be traceable to business objectives and key architecture drivers.
When a domain principle contradicts an enterprise principle, neither ‘the more specific’ nor ‘the more recent’ one wins: the subordinate principle must be revised to stay within the frame set above.
TERMS TO KNOW
The terms, in context.
- Enterprise Principles
- Principles valid across the whole organization, which harmonize decisions and frame subordinate principles.
- Architecture Principles
- Principles specific to architecture work, steering the development, maintenance, and use of the EA.
- Tie-breaking
- A principle’s role as arbiter when two competing options must be decided between.
- Architecture Board
- Governance body that, among other things, approves the Architecture Principles.