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IN THIS SECTION, YOU WILL: Get an overview of the Grounded Architecture structure: Data Foundation, People Foundation, and Architecture Activities Platform.

KEY POINTS:

  • I introduce three elements of Grounded Architecture: The Data Foundation, The People Foundation, and The Architecture Activities Platform as an approach to setting organizational structures for a modern IT architecture practice.
  • Prioritizing people interactions and data over processes and tools, Grounded Architecture aims to connect architecture practice to all organizational levels as an antidote to the “ivory tower” architecture.


In this part, I will briefly introduce the structure of Grounded Architecture. I chose the term “Grounded Architecture” to highlight that the primary goal of my approach is avoiding having an “ivory tower” architecture function disconnected from the organization, which, in a fast-moving, global, and diverse setting, is a real danger. In other words, I wanted to create an architectural function that is well-grounded in the organization.

I chose the term "Grounded Architecture" to highlight that the primary goal of my approach is to avoid having an "ivory tower" architecture function disconnected from the organization. I wanted to create an architectural practice that is well-grounded in the organization.

Prioritizing people interactions and data over processes and tools, Grounded Architecture aims to connect architecture practice to all organizational parts and levels, serving as an antidote to the “ivory tower” architecture.

Grounded Architecture as an approach to setting organizational structures for architecture practice has three elements:

  • The Data Foundation,
  • The People Foundation,
  • The Architecture Activities Platform.

Figure 1: The structure of Grounded Architecture.

The Data Foundation is a system of tools and resources that enables architects to make data-informed decisions based on a real-time and complete overview of the organization’s technology landscape. The Data Foundation section provides more details.

The People Foundation is a network of people doing architecture across the organization. This Pillar is crucial to ensure that architecture function has any tangible impact. As noted by Gregor Hohpe, to transform an organization, you do not need to solve mathematical equations; you need to move people. The People Foundation section provides more details.

Lastly, the Architecture Activities Platform defines a set of processes and agreements enabling architects to do everything that architecture typically does, leveraging data and People Foundations to create a data-informed, organization-wide impact. The Architecture Activities Platform section provides more details on the Architecture Activities Platform.

The Architecture Activities Platform is only valid with the healthy Data and People Foundations. Without data and people connections, an Architecture Activities Platform becomes an ivory tower institution, generating opinion-based decisions disconnected from reality.

Introduction
← Goals
Structure
Data Foundation →