Architecting the Future Enterprise - Hardcover

Nightingale, Deborah J.; Rhodes, Donna H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262028824 ISBN 13: 9780262028820

Publisher: The MIT Press, 2015

Synopsis

Two experts in enterprise architecting lay out a holistic approach to creating a blueprint for future enterprise transformation.

Every enterprise evolves continuously, driven by changing needs or new opportunities. Most often this happens gradually, with small adjustments to strategy, organization, processes, or infrastructure. But sometimes enterprises need to go beyond minor fixes and transform themselves, in response to a disruptive event or dramatically changing circumstances―a merger, for example, or a new competitor. In this book, enterprise architecting experts Deborah Nightingale and Donna Rhodes offer a framework for enterprise transformation. Successful transformation, they believe, starts with a holistic approach, taking into consideration all facets of the enterprise and its environment rather than focusing solely on one factor―information technology, for example, or organizational structure. This is architecting the future enterprise: creating a blueprint for what the enterprise will look like after the transformation.

Nightingale and Rhodes introduce the ARIES (Architecting Innovative Enterprise Strategy) framework, including a ten enterprise element model and an architecting process model, and show how to apply it, from start to finish. They explain how to create a holistic vision for the future enterprise and how to generate concepts and alternative architectures; they describe techniques for evaluating possible architectures, tools for implementation planning, and strategies for communicating with stakeholders. Nightingale and Rhodes offer real-world examples throughout, drawing on their work at MIT, with an extensive case study of enterprise transformation at a medical device manufacturer. An appendix offers two additional architecting projects.

Seven Architecting Imperatives
· Make architecting the initial activity in transformation.
· Develop a comprehensive understanding of the enterprise landscape.
· Understand what stakeholders value and how that may change in the future.
· Use multiple perspectives to see the whole enterprise.
· Create an architecting team suited to the transformation challenges.
· Engage all levels of leadership in transformation.
· Architect for the enterprise's changing world.

About this title

About the Author:

Deborah J. Nightingale, formerly Professor of the Practice of Aeronautics and Engineering Systems and Director of the Sociotechnical Systems Research Center at MIT, is an independent consultant and coauthor of Lean Enterprise Value: Insights from MIT's Lean Aerospace Initiative and Beyond the Lean Revolution: Achieving Successful and Sustainable Enterprise Transformation.

Donna H. Rhodes is Senior Lecturer in Engineering Systems at MIT and Principal Research Scientist in the Sociotechnical Systems Research Center. She is Director of MIT's Systems Engineering Advancement Research Initiative and Sociotechnical Systems Research Initiative.

Review:

‘Enterprises must periodically go through a major transformation to better adapt to their fast changing environment... or else. The business literature includes a number of frameworks to help guide the implementation of whatever new architecture the enterprise has chosen. But, how do you decide which architectural option will help you better achieve your desired vision for the future? That's what Architecting the Future Enterprise is all about. Its ARIES framework is unique in providing a holistic methodology for selecting the new architecture around which to transform the enterprise. In doing so, Architecting the Future Enterprise represents an important contribution to the business literature, particularly valuable for our tumultuous times.’
– Irving Wladawsky-Berger, Executive Emeritus, IBM; Visiting Lecturer, Sloan School of Management, MIT

‘This book is a valuable addition to the ever-growing literature on enterprise transformation. It argues that the transformation is started by developing an enterprise architecture through a decision-making process that involves key stakeholders and their views of the ecosystem in which the enterprise operates. The process is logical and well-illustrated. Good job!’
– Harold W. Sorenson, Professor, Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California, San Diego

‘As a consultant who operates every day with and within different organizations, I find the practical tools this book provides to be unique and incredibly valuable. It is not just very good and well-structured theory, which is indeed important. The book also offers an inspiring set of instruments that will forever change the way we view and take action in organizations!’
– Danilo Simoni, Director of Excellence Programs, Asset Management, OD&M International

About this edition

• Publisher: The MIT Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0262028824
• ISBN 13: 9780262028820
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 200