Pumpkin Futures in IT

In Enterprise Architecture and Agile, Ed Gibbs chimes in on the topic of whether EA and Agile are inherently incompatible.

The author of the article he references takes the stance that the two are probably incompatible. Ed differs from this view. He invokes the reminder that any incompatibility is probably due to an ivory tower model for EA.

I partially agree, but would like to contribute another facet to the overall conversation.

First off, I'm near the front of the line when it comes to the topic of EA needing to improve its ability to provide substance and value. By some accounts, some of us will turn into pumpkins around the year 2012.

Agile methods can indeed be a useful addition to the EA tool belt. It should be noted, however, that not all aspects of an architecture are an obvious fit for an incremental or agile model. When they do, the increments are sometimes on a longer time scale than those encountered in most agile development efforts.

This brings me to my real point.

There is a tyranny in both the EA ivory tower and the scrum. There is also a tyranny in PMBOK and ITIL. All of them seem highly prone to multiculturalism in the name of standardization and simplification.

We are allergic to diversity. However... Diversity leads to resilience. Resilience leads to survival.

I see no inherent incompatibility between EA and Agile.