7 Essential Elements of EA

David C. Baker and Michael Janiszewski of DiamondCluster International published an interesting article in FTP's Enterprise Architecture entitled "7 Essential Elements of EA"

The seven elements are:

• Set the stage with guiding principles.
• Manage complexity with blueprints.
• Organize for architecture success.
• Integrate through architecture processes.
  
• Keep on track with architecture governance.
• Use tools to model, analyze, and communicate your architecture.
  
• Measure architecture success with metrics.

The article's title, along with the magic number 7, are obviously a play on Stephen Covey's famous book, "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People"  (imitation is the greatest form of flattery!)

While I'm not quite sure there are exactly seven essential elements, I do believe these authors clearly demonstrate they possess significant experience and proficiency in developing business and technical blueprints that govern strategic IT initiatives. I have no disagreement with their list. Personally, however, I tend to believe there are two especially essential elements of EA that sit above everyting else:

1. Modeling
2. Documenting