enterprise architecture as philosophy

By Michael D. Stark. The Discipline of Enterprise Architecture – How EA Can Leverage Philosophy to Mature. Could it be that case that when we are doing enterprise architecture we are actually engaged in a philosophical activity? If you look at the history of philosophy there is a case to be made. It is hard…

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what nature can teach us about target state architecture

By Michael D. Stark.  As Enterprise Architects we talk a lot about the mythical target state.  But do we ever get to this target state, and would we actually want to be there if we did.  Perhaps nature can teach us much about how we ought to think about the target state.  We return to…

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you can’t get an ought from an is

By Michael D. Stark. You can’t get an ought from an is.  This famous concept from the great Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711–76) has interesting implications for Enterprise Architects.  Hume observed that people seem to derive what ought to be done by citing facts about what is, yet logically there seems to be a gap,…

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decommissioning stinks – a story

By Michael D. Stark. Most of us have had exposure to the remains of some system replacement that didn’t quite finish decommissioning the legacy system.  Perhaps it still performs some current functions, or is simply used to access historic or run off data. We often feel this is problematic and the result of a lack…

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the dark side of removing complexity

By Michael D. Stark. Complexity is often public enemy number 1 for technologists in large corporations, and rightly so.  Lets forget about good versus bad complexity, and focus on the latter.  Okay, so I often use other peoples quotes, but here is an original (as far as I know): “Complexity is highly resilient and therefore…

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