Roger recalls participating in his second Boston Marathon and the frustration he experienced when he tried to purchase the “iconic” marathon jacket. Read why his search for the jacket turned into a “second marathon” and how his experience relates to business architecture.

In the twelfth Column in his series on Business Architecture, Roger Burlton contends that architecture should be about more than a transformation, if the only focus is on the movement to a new product, service or a new business model, without thinking longer term, then as soon as we finish a particular change, we will need to immediately begin re-architecting all over again in the next transformation.

In Part 1 of this two-part series, Roger provided a list of key performance indicators and how to apply them. In Part 2, he elaborates on the structure of measurement and what you should consider to achieve an accurate and useful measure of your processes.

Continuing his series on the Essentials of Business Architecture, Roger focuses this month on defining a good end to end business architecture. With the use of numerous illustrations, he provides a clear step-by-step presentation of how to develop a good business architecture.

In this, the fourth Column in his series on Business Architecture, Roger Burlton discusses the external pressures that organizations must accommodate in planning a successful business architecture. He presents an approach he favors in analyzing external pressures—the STEEPL structure: Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, and Legal. Read Roger’s Column to understand how applying the STEEPL structure can create a set of simplified statements that make it easier to align the business considerations and communicate the overall direction of the business architecture.

In his third Column in the series on Business Architecture Essentials, Roger Burlton analyzes the stakeholder’s role in defining an organization’s business architecture. He presents the stakeholder model he uses to reconcile the various stakeholders’ perspectives. He provides a list of questions and responses which will help you to define your external stakeholders and, ultimately, the most viable strategic goals.

In the second Column in his Business Architecture Essentials series, Roger Burlton describes the types of value chains that exist in the various types of organizations. He asserts that this part of the architecture effort needs to happen early on, and offers useful tools for successfully defining an organization’s value chain.

In his initial Column, Roger lays out a set of principles for Business Architecture and examines some popular architectural approaches that are currently available. His focus is on Business Architecture and the paradigms he presents are apropos business executives as well as BPM professionals.

In his Column this month, Mike Rosen draws a parallel between critical thinking skills and the tasks of the business architect. He presents the skills required for critical thinking, examines them in the context of business architecture, and ends by defining the characteristics of a critical thinking architect.