editor-in-chief, thinkingea.com
author, surviving strategy and architecture

I have spend a lot of time focusing on Enterprise Architect (EA) in large organizations, including multinationals. Like many of us I’ve been through my share of mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations (centralized then decentralized, and then around again). Then there is the programs and the politics; failed projects called successes, and successful projects called failures.

We see it all, and we have a seat at the top table, though often in the back row.

Through all of this we must strive to stay focused on understanding the business drivers and motivations including a deep understanding of relevant financial measures and indicators of the business, and how these are manifested in the language of the business stakeholders, so we understand what narratives will resonate, allowing me to help guide technology decision making.

We need, as an EA discipline, to evolve an ability to ‘nudge’ organisational narratives (business and technology) through clear context savvy messaging, repeatable stories, and taking people on a journey with more opportunistic nudges, and less banging of heads.

At this stage of my career I’m passionate about sharing what I’ve learned about people, technology, and life, to help the discipline I deeply believe in evolve to become the technology and business foundation I know it can be. I also have a great passion for helping to coach and mentor fellow architects, in the same spirit that many people coached and mentored me over the years (and still do). That is where this website comes in. I trust that the people that find there way here are great architects in there own right, and try to bring some other ideas and concepts that aren’t normally discussed in enterprise architecture, but which I believe can greatly help the practice.

My unbounded desire for diverse learning beyond technology allows me to bring a unique blend of skills to my craft including taking learnings and inspiration from:

• Lean Thinking e.g. Taiichi Ohno, James P. Womack, Art Byrne
• Systems Thinking e.g. Russell L. Ackoff, Donella H. Meadows, Lao Tzu
• Architecture Thought Leadership e.g. Gregor Hohpe, (The Architect Elevator), Martin Fowler
• Technology Powerhouses e.g. MIT CISR, Thought Works, Gartner, CEB, Celent
• Platform Business Models e.g. Network Effect, Platform Friction, Chicken and Egg Problem
• Platform Enterprise Architecture e.g. Architecting the Boundaries
• Western Philosophy e.g. Epistemology (what we do and don’t know), Ontology, Logic, Ethics
• Eastern Philosophy e.g. Wu Wei (effortless action), Dependent Origination, Non-Dualisum
• Psychology e.g. Daniel Kahneman (Cognitive Bias), R.H. Thaler, & C.R. Sunstein (Nudging)

Thank you for your precious attention.

Kind regards

Michael D. Stark