Lesson 65 - Distributed Strategy of Enterprise Architecture
Summary
TLDRIn this lesson, Mark Richards discusses the distributed strategy in enterprise architecture. This approach delegates decision-making and standards to individual business units, while maintaining minimal shared enterprise standards. Key examples include security and hardware standards. Although this strategy allows for flexibility and tailored solutions per unit, it can lead to high costs and synchronization challenges. Richards also outlines the benefits and drawbacks of this model, emphasizing the need for balance in enterprise standards. Further resources and related lessons are available on his website, developerToArchitect.com.
Takeaways
- 🏢 The video discusses the 'Distributed Strategy' as part of enterprise architecture, where decisions and standards are delegated to individual business units with minimal shared enterprise standards.
- 📜 Enterprise architects in the central organization define minimally shared standards that all business units must adhere to, despite their autonomy.
- 🔒 Security, hardware, and network concerns are highlighted as examples of enterprise standards that might be centrally defined and minimally shared across the business units.
- 🛠 Each business unit has the freedom to define its own standards and technologies, leading to a diverse range of architectures within the same company.
- 🔄 The distributed strategy allows for flexibility and control at the business unit level, enabling faster response to user requests and better overall satisfaction.
- 🔗 However, this approach can lack synchronization between business units, which might be suitable for fully autonomous units with no need for synchronization.
- 💰 The strategy can be costly as each unit operates independently, making it difficult to standardize on licensing or achieve economies of scale.
- 📊 The difficulty in governing minimally shared enterprise standards can lead to an overreach, potentially turning the strategy into a more prescriptive approach.
- 🔑 The video suggests that the distributed strategy is best for businesses with diversified units that do not require synchronization, like a trucking company and a pie shop within the same organization.
- 📈 The script provides a comparison with other enterprise architecture strategies, suggesting viewers refer to previous lessons for a comprehensive understanding.
- 📚 Mark Richards, the presenter, offers further learning opportunities through his website, including private training classes and analysis of software architecture.
Q & A
What is the main focus of lesson 65 in the Software Architecture Monday series?
-The main focus of lesson 65 is on the distributed strategy of enterprise architecture, which involves delegating decisions and standards to individual business units with minimally shared enterprise standards.
What is the difference between centralized and distributed strategies in enterprise architecture?
-Centralized strategies involve a central governing body that defines and enforces standards across the entire enterprise, while distributed strategies delegate the decision-making and standard-setting to individual business units, with only a few minimally shared enterprise standards.
What are some examples of minimally shared enterprise standards in a distributed strategy?
-Examples of minimally shared enterprise standards include security standards, hardware and network concerns, and possibly databases for integration and information sharing.
How does the distributed strategy benefit business units in terms of flexibility?
-The distributed strategy allows each business unit to define and implement their own standards, technologies, and methodologies that best fit their specific needs, providing greater flexibility and control.
What is a potential disadvantage of the distributed strategy regarding synchronization?
-A potential disadvantage is the lack of synchronization between business units, as each unit operates independently with its own standards, which can complicate coordination and integration across the enterprise.
How can the distributed strategy lead to higher costs?
-Higher costs can result from each business unit making independent decisions about platforms, technologies, and licensing, which prevents the enterprise from benefiting from economies of scale and bulk licensing discounts.
Why might enterprise standards in a distributed strategy go overboard?
-Enterprise standards might go overboard as central organizations try to manage costs and control by adding more and more shared standards, which can gradually turn the strategy back into a more prescriptive or centralized approach.
What are the advantages of the distributed strategy in terms of tool selection and user satisfaction?
-The distributed strategy allows each business unit to select the tools that work best for their specific context, leading to better business unit control and higher user satisfaction due to faster response times and tailored solutions.
In what type of organizational structure is the distributed strategy best suited?
-The distributed strategy is best suited for organizations where business units are fully autonomous and do not require tight synchronization, such as a diversified company with units operating in different industries.
How can the lack of synchronization in a distributed strategy affect economies of scale?
-The lack of synchronization can prevent business units from agreeing on common platforms and technologies, making it difficult to achieve economies of scale in purchasing and licensing, leading to higher overall costs.
Outlines
🏢 Distributed Strategy in Enterprise Architecture
In this segment, Mark Richards introduces the concept of a distributed strategy in enterprise architecture. He explains that this strategy involves delegating decisions and standards to individual business units while maintaining minimal shared enterprise standards. The central organization defines these minimal standards, which all business units must adhere to, but they are free to define their own standards within their autonomy. Examples of these minimal standards include security, hardware, and network concerns. Richards encourages viewers to pause and consider what minimal standards might be necessary for their own enterprises. The segment also discusses the advantages of this approach, such as flexibility and the ability to use the right tools for each business unit's needs, as well as the disadvantages, which include a lack of synchronization between business units and potentially high costs due to the lack of standardized licensing and economies of scale.
🤔 Pros and Cons of the Distributed Strategy
This paragraph delves deeper into the distributed strategy, highlighting its advantages and disadvantages. Richards notes that the strategy allows for better user satisfaction and faster response to user requests due to the autonomy of each business unit. It also supports specific technologies and methodologies tailored to the context of each business unit. However, the lack of synchronization between business units can be a significant drawback, especially in enterprises that require coordination. The example given illustrates how a company might have diverse business units like trucking, a pie shop, and trading, each with different technological needs. The high cost associated with this strategy is also discussed, as each business unit independently decides on their standards, leading to difficulties in controlling costs and achieving licensing discounts. Furthermore, the minimal enterprise standards can be challenging to govern and may lead to an overemphasis on standardization, potentially reverting to a prescriptive approach. Richards suggests reviewing lessons 62 to 64 for a comprehensive understanding of enterprise architecture strategies and their comparison with the distributed strategy.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Distributed Strategy
💡Enterprise Architecture
💡Centralized vs. Decentralized
💡Business Units
💡Autonomy
💡Standards
💡Governance
💡Synchronization
💡Cost Control
💡Economies of Scale
💡Platform
Highlights
Introduction to Lesson 65 on the distributed strategy of enterprise architecture.
Explanation of the distributed strategy where decisions and standards are delegated to individual business units with minimal shared enterprise standards.
Diagram illustrating the minimal spread of enterprise standards across business units in a distributed strategy.
The importance of defining minimally shared standards by central enterprise architects.
Business units' autonomy to define their own standards irrespective of the central organization.
Invitation for viewers to consider what minimally shared enterprise standards might look like.
Examples of minimally shared enterprise standards such as security, hardware, and network concerns.
Different technology stacks and methodologies adopted by various business units within the same company.
Analysis of the advantages of the distributed strategy, including the right tools for the job and business unit control.
Discussion on the disadvantages of the distributed strategy, such as lack of synchronization and high costs.
The challenge of governing minimally shared enterprise standards in a distributed strategy.
Risk of over-standardization in a distributed strategy leading to a prescriptive approach.
Comparison of the distributed strategy with other enterprise architecture strategies in previous lessons.
Information on where to find additional lessons on enterprise architecture strategies.
Details on private training classes and software architecture services offered by the instructor.
Upcoming events and public training opportunities where the instructor will be present.
Conclusion of Lesson 65 and a teaser for the next lessons on enterprise architecture strategies.
Transcripts
hello and welcome to software
architecture Monday my name is Mark
Richards I'm an independent consultant
and also the founder of developer to
architect dot-com in today's lesson
number 65 we'll take a look at the
distributed strategy of enterprise
architecture in lesson 62 we saw that
strategies describe the overall
enterprise architecture team structure
whether it's centralized or distributed
and how standards whether those be
technology architecture methodology or
process related are applied and governed
across the enterprise and we saw that
there were four basic kinds of
strategies in this lesson we're going to
be taking a look at the first
decentralized strategy which is called
the distributed strategy the distributed
strategy here is where decisions and
standards are delegated to the
individual business units with a
minimally shared enterprise standards
now notice here kind of in the diagram
that those enterprise standards how
minimal very minimal are extra then
spread across those business units
what's the an example of this because
what the enterprise architects in the
central organization do is define they
define minimally shared standards now
all business units regardless of their
autonomy must adhere to those Enterprise
Architecture standards however watch
this each business unit is free to
define whatever standards they like
irrespective of other business units or
even the central organization so suppose
you're wondering what would be good and
to price standards and what I would
encourage you to do is to hit pause on
the video right now and think for a
little bit about what those enterprise
standards that are minimally shared
would probably look like what would be
good standards and so go ahead and hit
pause and then I'm going to continue
basically the a good example of those
enterprise standards that are minimally
shared those things that the business
units really
want to worry about and the core things
if you came up with these by hitting
pause you might have first our security
security is a good centrally defined
kind of standard across the entire
enterprise also hardware and network
type of concerns on each business unit
I'm guessing does not care what load
balancers it's using or even which kind
of hardware they sit on and you know
databases might also be a good way of
adhering to an enterprise wide standard
just for integration or the sharing of
information but notice each business
unit here can define whatever they want
to each department in this case is all
windows.net with a splash of lean and
agile we have another one that's Java
spring angular and we've got another
department that's sticking with IBM with
AIX using an sdlc waterfall approach hmm
not sure about them but but you can see
each department has its own flexibility
and its own freedom as a matter of fact
if we look at the advantages and also
disadvantages of this approach now let's
analyze those but before we do what we
really have here with the distributed
strategy are layers of standards in
other words there are those core
standards those enterprise level
standards that are minimally shared that
every business unit needs to adhere to
and generally again like we saw the
examples of security maybe documentation
it could be a topology and the network
hardware these sort of things however
business units might have commonly
shared standards between them if two
business units have very similar
technologies now we can support common
standards across those business units
that relate to one another but then
primarily each business unit has its own
distinct standards now what would
typically happen on the decentralized
model is that each business unit would
have an enterprise architecture team
and that would then define implementing
and govern those particular standards so
let's look at the trade-offs of the
distributed strategy first of all the
good aspects it's definitely the right
tools for the job because now each
business unit although we have to adhere
to some common standards each business
unit has the choice of whatever works
for them there's no kind of central
governing body dictating what they need
to use so this gives us a lot of good
business unit control you know the thing
is that we have minimally global
standards available here and better
overall satisfaction and both by users
because we can respond faster those kind
of user requests but also with NIT
because now each business unit has
specific technology specific
architecture maybe methodologies and
also processes that work for their
particular context this everybody seems
like Nirvana doesn't it this seems
perfect however there are some negatives
with this approach the first with the
distributed strategy is a lack of
synchronization between the business
units you see those enterprise standards
are minimally defined so each business
unit can choose whatever platforms
technologies architecture standards
methodologies whatever they want to do
however this strategy is best suited for
those kind of business units that are
fully autonomous that the company does
not need a synchronization between those
business units for example maybe one
business unit happens to be trucking or
transportation another business unit
happens to be a pie shop another
business unit does trading all within
the same company due to a level of
diversification because our employees
really like pie and it got really
expensive and so the company decided
instead of buying pies we're going to
buy the pie company and so now this
company one of the business units
happens to manufacture or create or bake
pies and there's a totally different
type of technology and furthermore we
don't need the synchronization so the
point is here the lack
synchronization between business units
is one of the use cases for the
distributed strategy now in the next
lesson we're going to see a type of
decentralized strategy that does support
that level of synchronization between
the business units the other
disadvantage is that there's very high
cost associated with this particular
strategy because each business unit is
now deciding whatever they want to and
because of that very high cost is also
very very difficult to control those
costs across the company
we can't standardize on licensing and
get licensing discounts because each
business unit is doing their own thing
as a matter of fact that lack of
synchronization causes different
business units not to necessarily agree
to get those economies of scale on
particular types of licensing and stuff
and finally those enterprise standards
that are minimally shared are extremely
hard to govern and what also happens in
this kind of negative right here is that
those enterprise standards because of
that start to go overboard in other
words let's standardize on security and
hardware I like that because now the
costs are hmm somewhat easier able to
control that works I know let's
standardize on the platform as well
because now we can kind of control
things a little bit more and as a matter
of fact I know
let's standardize on the programming
languages let's standardize on the way
we document a diagram our architecture
let's standardize on the methodology
that we use and you can suddenly see
that this distributed strategy because
of those ei standards those enterprise
architecture standards that are
minimally shared or those minimal
standards that are shared it's easy to
go overboard on those and turn this back
into a prescriptive or classic approach
so for more information go to lesson 62
which kind of introduces all these
enterprise architecture strategies and
kind of the point of those strategies
also as a comparison lesson 63 and 64
with the classic alternatives kind of go
back and review that to compare it
against the distributed architecture
strategy also all of these lessons are
available in software architecture
Monday which is on my website developer
to architect comm I also offer private
training classes and software
architecture micro services and
analyzing software architecture and you
can find me at a lot of conferences
online training and also public training
by going to the upcoming events portion
of my website so this has been lesson 65
the distributed strategy of enterprise
architecture get my name is Mark
Richards stay tuned we got two more
lessons in enterprise architecture
strategies lesson 66 which will be next
we'll look at the last one of these
strategies uses the durable interface
and then in lesson 67 we're going to
wrap everything up and take a look at
some case studies applying these so that
we as a kind of as a group I would say
can interactively decide what is the
best strategy based on certain case
studies thank you very much for
listening
Посмотреть больше похожих видео
Lesson 64 - Classic Alternatives Strategy of Enterprise Architecture
Lesson 66 - Durable Interface Strategy of Enterprise Architecture
Lesson 63 - Prescriptive Strategy of Enterprise Architecture
Lesson 62 - Enterprise Architecture Strategies
Lesson 156 - Zachman Framework in 10 Minutes
Data Quality | Data Warehousing and Data Mining | Quick Engineering | Ashish Chandak
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)