Quite recently, I decided to take the plunge and attend a course for TOGAF Certification.
It was held in London and organised by one of the major, training providers. Having been successful, my certification should appear in their list in the near future.
So what were my impressions of the whole affair?
TOGAF, if you don’t already know, is a fairly loose and general, enterprise architecture framework that offers guidance on the best way to formulate aspects of an Enterprise Architecture procedure.
I must emphasise the word ‘general’ here because if you are hoping for the fine detail of a specific process for introducing and applying enterprise architecture you will be disappointed.
In many respects, TOGAF is perhaps the master blueprint that, in some subject areas, becomes a little more specific, offering definite guidance and advice.
TOGAF is the creation of The Open Group. This organisation specialises in IT industry standards and remains unbiased in regard to any market vendor systems. Neutrality is the name of the game.
Perhaps the main disadvantage with this approach is the feeling that the design of some aspects was a ‘committee’ led decision and could be viewed as lacking some clarity.
Overall, I must say that, personally, I was left with a general frustration after completing the course. This was because I was left with many questions on enterprise architecture that still needed to be satisfactorily answered.
However, after some further reflection, I realised that the TOGAF certification course had certainly provided a sound foundation that could be built upon – no matter what organisation type you were involved with.
It certainly made me realise that because each organisation is different then individual thinking would be needed to devise the particular bespoke solutions for an enterprise.
TOGAF provides the ingredients for the cake mix but the actual end result really depends on the creative skills applied from that point onwards!
