Architecting Styles

Figure bellow depicts the relationships between them. Definitions are below, further details can be found in Chapter 2.

Authoritative

This style provides direction/policy to one or more domains to drive coherency, consistency, reuse and alignment with corporate objectives. The resultant architecture is an enduring reference source for other architecture activities and supports all phases of the enterprise life cycle. It requires constant management and strong governance to ensure it remains relevant and valid. A specialist team commonly enables this style with a wide remit for coherence or interoperability across the enterprise.

Directive

This style plays a key role in the development, design and implementation of new capability, processes or systems within existing engineering practices and governance. It is applicable to all domains but is normally focused on a single domain or sub-domain that is planning for, or going through change. Depending on the domain this style will use relevant reference models, policies or standards along with a range of dedicated/specialist tooling.

Coordinative

This style supports the co-ordination of change activities within a single domain or sub-domains by aggregation across lower levels; it is normally used at the Programme or Enterprise level. Governance is needed to ensure that the supplied Management Information (MI) is of suitable quality to support required decisions. The approach draws heavily on broader P3M practices and may be part of a Programme Support Office (PSO). Tooling is specialised with aggregated data being presented through dashboards or composite graphics to meet different decision makers’ needs.

Supportive

This is a focused style that supports key interventions or decision points across all levels of change and it can also be used as an initial activity to identify the need for change. It can function with limited governance (e.g. peer review) but must be held to account when supporting key decisions. This style is normally undertaken by a small team (or individual) of dedicated architects working as part of a wider multi discipline team; using best available tooling including standard office products.