When Do I Need To Reuse The Preliminary Phase?

By Jennifer dee

You start using TOGAF. The preliminary phase proved to be very useful in helping to manage the company's architectural team, put all the governance and tools needed, and adjust acceptance.

But now you are in full stream. You have completed the ADM iteration for your first EA project and everything works well. So, that the EA team is now in demand, and there are some stakeholders with important concerns that they want you to overcome. They are very interested in starting; As always, they expect yesterday's results, if not before!

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Do you really need to review the preliminary phase again?

Or can you save time directly with phases A to H?

This is a question that I often hear. And of course, in many EA project organizations, it seems to appear as if it is from nowhere, and it looks like there is no time to reflect on the nature of the project or ensure that everything is there before the project starts.

Even if there is time to see a new business direction, there is no time to see seriously, again, in defining the organizational specific architecture framework, choosing reference materials, or improving tools. So I want to emphasize some very good reasons to spend time in the preliminary phase, before rushing on the lap of other ADM cycles.

This is a preliminary phase that starts the ADM iteration, and therefore you really understand the worries, goals, and aspirations of stakeholders. If you don't get a good and clear statement about what is needed, then you will never have a successful iteration from ADM. For example, if you underestimate the level of change needed or fail to recognize the resources, funding, or support needed during the preliminary phase, it will be very difficult to get additional resources or extra time during the further phases.

Interestingly, TOGAF registered architectural work requests as an optional output of this phase; Personally, I would say that having a written request at this stage is very important. Big changes are the responsibility that extends outside the EA team. Every change initiative requires a series of different people. The preliminary phase is where you need to identify all management, business, or another framework that needs to be coordinated with TOGAF.

Again, this is something that really needs to be done at first – it is very important to set the right responsibility from the start. The things we have discussed so far covered by the first three steps in this phase – the scope of the company's organization affected, confirm the framework of governance and support, and defines and builds the company's architectural organizations and organizations.

The last three steps in the preliminary phase are the most often ignored: Identification and create important architectural principles because it has can save a lot of debate and time of decision making later. For example, a company initiated the project to rationalize the channel-facing customers. The EA team defines the principle – "general process on all channels" – which is then used in architectural block evaluations and solutions, so it is easy to reject the option that does not allow general processing.

Tailor TOGAF course and, if any, the other selected architectural framework is important because there is no one-matched one-size framework! Easy choices are just choosing a framework and continue to use it repeatedly, but this is like choosing a screwdriver and using it for every DIY task. The principle here is "time stitching" – it's better to get the correct framework for the work you will do; It makes your work easier, saves time, and more likely to provide successful results.

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Applying architectural tools following the sewing framework. Most EA teams roam with the tools they already have, instead of thinking about putting something that might really help them. For example, the EA team starts the project to rationalize the application portfolio; It was just a long later in the project, after a lot of frustrating effort to gather information about inheritance applications, which they thought they used Wiki to allow the basic material experts to contribute their knowledge. This will be a big benefit if it has been placed from the preliminary phase.

In conclusion …

Yes, you really need to review the preliminary phase! This is where you get the first knowledge of worries you will overcome, and ensure that you have everything you need to be able to handle it. It was two very good reasons to repeat this phase. What underlies these tasks is the basic principle – prepared and has the abilities and tools needed for existing work.

(Disclaimer: The article is sponsored and hence, promotes some commercial links.)