Preface
Who, in truth, are the architects of your enterprise? And, where are these innovative, constructive people, who know how to combine aesthetics, structures, spaces and resources to produce an enterprise that is a statement to society, to other enterprises and to the world - unique, seductive and high-performing?
Most importantly, whoever and wherever your enterprise’s architects are, what influence are they having on its shape and structure, and on the results of your strategies and business plans? For, being imaginative, creative people, they need to be having as much positive influence as possible, both individually and together, applying in practice consistent design themes and performance objectives.
Their contributions may be stunning innovations, or careful re-crafting of previous successes. Either way, they have the potential to make an extraordinary difference. The challenge for your enterprise is how best to realize this potential.
Step up Simon Rathbone, Enterprise Architect, to explore these questions. If you’ve read ‘fruITion’, you’ll have met him already – and if not, no problem. He’s going to describe what happened when he joined a global company based in New York, USA, as their first ever Vice President of Enterprise Architecture.
We catch up with Simon on a sunny Monday morning in Spring, as he walks into his new office and role. He will be working for the Chief Technology Officer, Lucy, who is also new to her role. Her boss, the Chief Executive Officer, likes to meet every new Vice President based in Corporate Headquarters as soon as they join the company.
Simon knows his subject, Enterprise Architecture, with all its frameworks, methods and tools, like the back of his hand. He knows how valuable it, and he, should be to the people who make the big decisions. Now he is going to meet the CEO on Day One, and can’t wait to start the education process.
At the end of each chapter, I’ve made some observations about what Simon has told us. I encourage you to make your own observations - I expect you’ll notice many different things from me.
REVELATIONS