As enterprises splinter, so does enterprise architecture (but in a good way)

Enterprise architecture (EA) is entering a new phase, driven by the ongoing splintering of enterprises. The discipline has been carefully crafted over the past couple of decades as a process-driven, well-documented exercise intended to develop a roadmap to prevent organizations from spending big money on technologies that don't produce value for the business. This model of EA worked well within established enterprises that viewed IT as a budget item that needed to be justified and monitored -- and constantly explained to executives. Nowadays, however, IT is integral to everything the business does, and is viewed as a strategic weapon. Tom Graves, a self-identified "enterprise architect, business-anarchist, confusionist,"whose work I greatly respect, says a major disruption is reshaping the role of EA and the mission of enterprise architects.