A Business and Solution Building Block Approach to EA Project Planning

How can enterprise architects bring clarity to project scope, release planning, and stakeholder communication across complex, interdependent programmes?

These slides accompany the paper: A Business and Solution Building Block Approach to EA Project Planning

When multiple projects are running in parallel — each with its own business analyst, development team, and agile backlog — it becomes surprisingly easy for scope, dependencies, and release content to become invisible to the people who most need to understand them: sponsors, stakeholders, and programme managers. This paper documents exactly that problem at a rapidly expanding South African telecoms company, where two major projects (Quoting and Billing) were underway with little consensus on scope, no agreed release breakdown, and a growing disconnect between business expectations and development plans.

The solution was a structured building block approach, distinguishing Business Building Blocks (BBBs) — capability-level components independent of technology choices — from Solution Building Blocks (SBBs), representing the actual systems, data sources, and infrastructure chosen to implement them. A facilitated workshop produced a BBB diagram showing capabilities, dependencies, and release groupings at a glance; a release matrix then mapped capability and content coverage to delivery timelines. Both were formalised in a meta model and implemented in the EVA Netmodeler repository, enabling traceability from business requirements through to agile backlogs and programme milestones.

The approach was well received across all stakeholder groups — sponsors, strategists, and programme managers reported that they finally had a clear, shared picture of what each project would deliver and when. The paper includes the full meta model, visual examples, and an honest reflection on adoption challenges, making it a practical reference for any EA function working to improve programme visibility and stakeholder alignment.

Originally published as a conference paper by Graham McLeod, Inspired.org / University of Cape Town, circa 2013–2014.

Linking Strategy, Enterprise Architecture and Programme Management

How do you create a coherent link between business strategy, enterprise architecture, and programme management — and why does it matter?

Organisations routinely struggle to translate strategic intent into delivered change — not because the strategy is wrong, but because the connections between strategy, architecture, and execution are poorly defined or missing entirely. This presentation by Graham McLeod, drawn from 15 years of cross-industry experience, addresses that gap with a structured framework for integrating strategy, enterprise architecture, and programme management into a coherent whole. Central to the approach is the concept of delta models — architecture views that show the net change required between current and future states, providing accurate scope for projects and a clear communication bridge between strategists, architects, and the project office. The presentation covers the full chain: from understanding current reality and setting architectural principles, through scenario development and filtering, to portfolio selection based on benefit ranking, risk scoring, cost estimation, and dependency mapping. A particularly useful section introduces the concept of organisational APIs — published, stable business service interfaces that facilitate rapid reconfiguration, outsourcing, and partnering, and that bring the discipline of software interface design to the boundary between business units. Case studies from telecommunications, a media group, an international bank, and a major assurer illustrate the approach in practice, showing how the integration of strategy, architecture, and programme management produces better-scoped initiatives, more informed investment decisions, and faster, lower-risk delivery.

Originally presented by Graham McLeod at an Inspired event, 2005.