Architecture Leadership and Systems Thinking

Abstract

Gone are the days when organizations were concerned with increasing efficiency by mastering repetitive tasks. The competitive, boundary-less world of today has dramatically altered the primary challenges of an organization: fluidity, coherence, and connectedness are the hallmarks of successful organizations. Concomitant with this epochal transformation is the emergence of information systems as the backbone for conducting any business. Today, one cannot find any enterprise or government that is not permeated by information systems at all levels. That the role of information systems is so central to any organization is evident from the prescient words of management legend, Peter Drucker, that the future CEO may be the CIO. With extended enterprises so very common, how do we not lose sight at the bigger picture while making decisions? Systems thinking advocates cultivation of viewing the “whole” and seeing the parts (of the whole) in the context of dependence with other parts (of the whole) and their interactions. Architecture should help create necessary artifacts to understand and manage the complexities. Developing insights on how things work together and the influence of one part over the other is at the heart of architectural conversations. There is thus a natural connect between leadership, architecture, and systems thinking. This chapter explores the nature of evolving enterprises and the increasing relevance of systems thinking in architectural activities. The author discusses the importance of systems thinking to enterprise architecture and illustrate, with TOGAF as an example, how to apply the principles of systems thinking. A conceptual case study is presented to illustrate the application of systems thinking in architectural governance.