How to convince the boss good architecture matters
In terms of holding interest, enterprise technical architecture management (ETAM) ranks somewhere between watching paint dry and grass grow, with the additional disadvantage of being intellectually demanding. The less technical your audience, the more ETAM serves as a side-effect-free alternative to Lunesta.
The news gets worse: ETAM is the one subject where IT needs to engage business leaders on a technical level -- a conversation about the enterprise technical architecture that's limited to metaphors and business terms won't get the job done.
ETAM is strategically vital, an essential aspect of competent IT management, and intellectually challenging and satisfying besides. But is there any easy way to interest business executives in it? Sadly, no. One alternative is resorting to threats. I once told a client's CEO he had two choices about this: He could trust me, or I'd explain it to him. He caught a glimpse of my first slide and said, "I think I'd rather trust you."
