Coherency Management

The forthcoming book Coherency Management: Architecting the Enterprise for Alignment, Agility and Assurance (early 2009) will introduce the idea of Coherency Management, and assert that this is the primary outcome goal of an enterprise’s architecture.

In the book, we propose that existing and new EA practices in the foundation, extended, and embedded areas, or modes, of enterprise architecture, should be used synergistically to achieve coherence in complex organizations. The focus on coherence requires that an EA extend beyond technology solutions and business requirements, to include the strategic goals that drive the enterprise.

Like Occam’s Razor, the value proposition of coherence management is that it is helpful to stakeholders when complex entities are made simpler and therefore are more understandable. Managing coherence through EA promotes alignment, agility, and assurance which make the enterprise more capable and competitive.

We foresee the evolution of Coherency Management into a critical function of corporate and public sector management. There will be clear, measurable, and obtainable targets. There will be a program of continuous improvement for coherency and Enterprise Architecture will be the cornerstone of the Coherent Enterprise.

We have introduced the basic ideas in our article Coherency Management: Using Enterprise Architecture for Alignment, Agility, and Assurance, published in the Journal of Enterprise Architecture in May 2008.