Ever wonder why people resist enterprise architecture? Ask yourself: why do I hate speed limits?
Human beings are unruly by nature. No, we are not independent or intellectually honest when we resist “control.” By nature, we want things our way. This instinct manifests itself in everything we do. That is why we resist external control and often term it as interference. It is not interference or external hegemony that troubles us but the loss of control.
We do not like control and resist it to the best of our ability.
This would not be a problem if the world was inhabited by only one person. They could do what their heart desired. The problem comes in when we have to share our space with other human beings. The clash of the unruliness of 6 billion people who inhabit the earth is what creates the “problem”.
Unsolved, this problem would inevitably result in chaos and the “survival of the fittest.” This is why humans created “common cause” and a set of artificial rules that everyone agrees to live by. These rules were first postulated in religion and then in governments – from monarchy to democracy and everything in between; with an assortment of cults and associations and “social organizations/associations” thrown in to complete the picture.
Begrudgingly, people have accepted these rules. Periodically, people have challenged them in their own special way – from rebellion and revolution that challenge the system to elections and court cases that work within the system.
This struggle between our fundamental nature and the demands of society we live in is what defines the human existence. People want to “have it their way.” Society wants them to behave to coexist.
Equilibrium is when these two opposing forces are perfectly matched. Chaos is when they are not.
Unfortunately, this struggle does not end at the doors of an enterprise. This struggle is the fundamental problem with the adoption of an Enterprise Architecture in an organization.
An organization is an artificial ecosystem created for the common cause of creating business value. The employees in this organization haven’t given up hope of having their own way. Governance is trying to stem this “independence.” Enterprise architecture is the instrument that aids in governance by exposing the chaos that might result when people do their own thing.
So, people resist Enterprise Architecture with the same passion they hate speed limits. Some do it within the system by trashing the EA effort. Others do it outside the system by ignoring it.
So what are you going to do to overcome this issue and establish order that is in the interests of the enterprise?
Don’t sweat the small stuff! Get over the urge to get a “complete” architecture and/or the “perfect” architecture. The forces at play will prevent you from ever reaching that goal. Look around you. How many complete or perfect Enterprise Architectures have you seen? How many “dead in the water” enterprise architectures have you seen? How many DOA – “dead on arrival” – Enterprise Architects have you met?
Focus on the parts of the Enterprise Architecture that given you the biggest bang for the buck. This will both make a case for forward movement and slowly chip away at the resistance.
The good news is that humans also like order over chaos. You just need to show them the way.
