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I’ve talked a lot about planning for the EA journey as well as the principles and rules that help keep us on the right path. We established our foundation and clearly mapped out the route to get from our starting point to our destination. Yet, how do we know if we are on the right track or have been successful?

Let’s consider the analogy I’ve used in previous posts of a road trip in a car. If we are planning to drive somewhere that will take a few hours, don’t we take care along the way to make sure we are successful? There are tools available to us as the driver that help us to achieve success. The fuel gauge lets us know if we have enough gas to make the trip.  The temperature gauge warns us if the car is overheating. The speedometer tells us the speed at which we are travelling, which, in turn, helps us stay within the standards imposed on the road we are traveling. In addition, there are many sensors in the car that will be triggered by certain conditions and alert us as needed.

Image Source: cars.com

The same is true regarding our final destination. Nowadays, we have sophisticated tools such as GPS to help guide us to our goal. Before GPS became common, people would use physical maps to confirm their route and destination. Prior to modern technology, navigation was even more complicated, especially marine navigation. Sailors would need to depend on tools such as charts, compasses and sextants to frequently confirm their current location and make adjustments to their course. Otherwise, they could easily end up being thousands of miles off course.

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In much the same way, Measurement Programs exist in Enterprise Architecture to “provide the continued demonstration of EA value and the foundation for continuous improvement (Weiss, 2006)”. By establishing relevant metrics of success, the business value of strategic decisions can be effectively measured. This, in turn, allows the organization make better strategic decisions to achieve its business objectives, initiatives and goals. “Linking goals to measures, as well as selecting the metrics that will drive improved performance based on these goals, is the key to successfull EA measurement (Weiss, 2006).”

References:

Weiss, Deborah (2006) Enterprise Architecture Measurement Program, Part 2: Defining What and How to Measure (G00142387). Gartner, September

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