Enterprise Architecture – what is it?  What value does it provide?  What’s the dreaded “elevator pitch”?  EA as an industry is struggling to redefine itself and to understand what role it plays in the modern organization.  Is it apart of IT or is it a function of the CEO office?  Or perhaps with the EPMO and partnering with organizational development efforts?  No matter what, EA is no longer just about technology.

So, what is it?

In three words: Facilitate – Synthesize – Champion

Facilitate:

Pull together diverse and competing interests from across the organization in ways that mobilize the best thinking.

Synthesize:

Sifting through all the data and the disparate viewpoints and creates a perspective that shows the common whole that all can organize around.

Champion:

Use the unique voice and position that EA holds within an organization to champion those actions that will make the greatest impact for the whole system.

So, what three words would you use?