Dave Oliver's Blog
The Technical Blog of an Technical/Enterprise Architect in a FTSE 100.

Enterprise Architecture: Foundation of Execution

Friday, November 09, 2007 3:42 PM
I first came across the phase “Foundation of Execution” after reading the book Enterprise Architecture as Strategy, Harvard Business School Press which was recommended by my colleague Andrew Galletly.
Foundation of Execution simply means the automation of routine business tasks. Doing this allows people to concentrate on improving the business rather than just purely running it. Does this sound obvious? Well yes! So often the link between a good company and a bad one is this realisation and agressively pursuing it.
Enterprise Architecture as Strategy book started life as a survey to discover what made a good company just that? The common theme was understands the company’s current structure, capability and where it wants to get to. Moving to a structure that best supported the ambition then, bit by bit, automate tasks starting with the key ones. It’s the companies that have taken this road are the ones that are usually continually successful.
Creating a Foundation of Execution isn’t a formula or process but a practice and so does take time, patience and investment. The companies and people that have are, more often than not, the business and business people you would have heard of. Henry T Ford’s production line is a good example of “Foundation of Execution” at work, so you can see what I mean.

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# re: Foundation of Execution

I recommend Bob Prosen's book "Kiss Theory Good Bye" as well. 11/12/2007 3:52 AM | Nettie Hartsock

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