Studying TOGAF

During most of 2009 a group of cllegues from Logica studied theThe Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF). The main reason for thiswas to gain more knowledge of TOGAF, but many of them also wanted toget ready for TOGAF certification. Together with two collegues I wasthe manager of the process.   

Studying the TOGAF book was no easy task. The book contains 778 pageswith a high information density. It is no easy read. We agreed to studyTOGAF book chapter-by-chapter from cover to cover. In 10 eveningsessions we would discuss any unclarities and questions we had on thematerial. In the process we learned a few lessons I want to share withyou:

  • It is not practical to read the book cover to cover. In the early chapters terminology is used that is explained much later in the book.
  • The best way is to start reading part III (ADM Guidelines and Techniques) and part IV (Architecture Content Framework) and then read the actual ADM phases (part II).
  • The book (or the online version of TOGAF for that matter) is not perfect, it contains some errors and creates some confusion of terminology. For instance: what exactly is a "building block" according to TOGAF? I took us hours of discussion to reach a consensus (which I verified with one of the authors of TOGAF when I visited the Open Group): a building block is everything. The same unclarity we had on the term "Enterprise Continuum" (read chapter 39 in the book). The same goes for the difference between artifacts and deliverables.
  • Not all parts of TOGAF are of equal maturity. The ADM is quite extensive (although most details are in the technical architecture part), but for instance the chapters on security architecture, SOA and architecture maturity models are very thin

Apart from the points above (and some extra issues I forgot) TOGAF isstill a very rich source of Enterprise Architecture information,containing many insights, checklists and models that can be used inpractice.

It just needs a little bit more maturing.


This entry was posted on Sunday 25 April 2010

Earlier articles

Quantum computing

Security at cloud providers not getting better because of government regulation

The cloud is as insecure as its configuration

Infrastructure as code

DevOps for infrastructure

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

(Hyper) Converged Infrastructure

Object storage

Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV)

Software Defined Storage (SDS)

What's the point of using Docker containers?

Identity and Access Management

Using user profiles to determine infrastructure load

Public wireless networks

Supercomputer architecture

Desktop virtualization

Stakeholder management

x86 platform architecture

Midrange systems architecture

Mainframe Architecture

Software Defined Data Center - SDDC

The Virtualization Model

What are concurrent users?

Performance and availability monitoring in levels

UX/UI has no business rules

Technical debt: a time related issue

Solution shaping workshops

Architecture life cycle

Project managers and architects

Using ArchiMate for describing infrastructures

Kruchten’s 4+1 views for solution architecture

The SEI stack of solution architecture frameworks

TOGAF and infrastructure architecture

The Zachman framework

An introduction to architecture frameworks

How to handle a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack

Architecture Principles

Views and viewpoints explained

Stakeholders and their concerns

Skills of a solution architect architect

Solution architects versus enterprise architects

Definition of IT Architecture

What is Big Data?

How to make your IT "Greener"

What is Cloud computing and IaaS?

Purchasing of IT infrastructure technologies and services

IDS/IPS systems

IP Protocol (IPv4) classes and subnets

Infrastructure Architecture - Course materials

Introduction to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

Fire prevention in the datacenter

Where to build your datacenter

Availability - Fall-back, hot site, warm site

Reliabilty of infrastructure components

Human factors in availability of systems

Business Continuity Management (BCM) and Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP)

Performance - Design for use

Performance concepts - Load balancing

Performance concepts - Scaling

Performance concept - Caching

Perceived performance

Ethical hacking

The first computers

Open group ITAC /Open CA Certification


Recommended links

Ruth Malan
Gaudi site
Esther Barthel's site on virtualization
Eltjo Poort's site on architecture


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The postings on this site are my opinions and do not necessarily represent CGI’s strategies, views or opinions.

 

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