Writing simply, without deep-diving... I believe BA & EA used to be different. Now they are very similar and even probably almost the same (and even maybe both are like a super advanced Business Analyst :) ). And this is because IT is completely integrated in everyday life of every person and every business. It is almost impossible to imagine business making money without any IT solution applied. It makes no sense to analyze IT solutions without business. Some time ago it was possible to have business without IT, but not now. That's why all in all BA & EA become almost the same.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Anastasiia. I do agree that business does not exist without IT in some volume. Even if a small entrepreneur uses a bunch of services to build their business - they already build a tiny, but IT infrastracture) So even in this instance they use elements of architecture thinking. But it's oversimplification, of course. Great addition to the discussion, Anastasiia!
following your podcast from Ukraine. there's always a question whether someone should talk about something that he can't explain. EA - is the process of business and IT alignment. That's it. Business comes up with a desired state and strategy, IT/EA makes sure that they can enable it in the best possible way. Why do you need EA and not use BAs or something similar? Because IT is an inherently COMPLEX (not complicated) domain that requires a lot of advanced technical knowledge that most BAs and even engineers don't have. Furthermore, it also requires good business acumen on top of it. Real EAs spend their day on ALIGNING business and IT stakeholders around a coherent business technology strategy to move the organization forward, that's it. EA is not similar to Business Architecture - these are two completely different domains that require vastly different skills and approaches. BA - is a description of how business makes money. EA - is a description of how "making money" is enabled through data, application, and technologies. EA work with value stream and capabilities BUT it's not their responsibility. It's an unfortunate state where EA are basically supposed to do everything because someone else is not doing their job properly. Ideally, EA should take the Capability Model from BAs... in reality, they end-up creating their own Capability Models because the business is too lazy to do it themselves. Anyways, it's a discussion that people are having since early 1980s. To keep it simple: EA is about business & IT alignment. Nothing more, nothing less. But the process of alignment probably needs a few hundred pages to explain it properly.
Wow, that's a great addition to the podcast episode, thank you for sharing! Indeed they are not the same while they share a lot. The most important thing is both professions operate on business level and aim to help it grow and operate - but surely from different POVs. I really appreciate your detailed thoughts on this! It’s always enlightening to hear from different perspectives, especially from someone following along from Ukraine. Thank you for being part of this discussion!
Watch all episodes of the Passionate Business Analyst podcast here: th-cam.com/play/PLslLv-MaDFnK32Ns2CPJRLGfPN7vEetOd.html
Writing simply, without deep-diving... I believe BA & EA used to be different. Now they are very similar and even probably almost the same (and even maybe both are like a super advanced Business Analyst :) ). And this is because IT is completely integrated in everyday life of every person and every business. It is almost impossible to imagine business making money without any IT solution applied. It makes no sense to analyze IT solutions without business. Some time ago it was possible to have business without IT, but not now. That's why all in all BA & EA become almost the same.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Anastasiia. I do agree that business does not exist without IT in some volume. Even if a small entrepreneur uses a bunch of services to build their business - they already build a tiny, but IT infrastracture) So even in this instance they use elements of architecture thinking. But it's oversimplification, of course. Great addition to the discussion, Anastasiia!
following your podcast from Ukraine.
there's always a question whether someone should talk about something that he can't explain.
EA - is the process of business and IT alignment. That's it.
Business comes up with a desired state and strategy, IT/EA makes sure that they can enable it in the best possible way.
Why do you need EA and not use BAs or something similar? Because IT is an inherently COMPLEX (not complicated) domain that requires a lot of advanced technical knowledge that most BAs and even engineers don't have. Furthermore, it also requires good business acumen on top of it. Real EAs spend their day on ALIGNING business and IT stakeholders around a coherent business technology strategy to move the organization forward, that's it.
EA is not similar to Business Architecture - these are two completely different domains that require vastly different skills and approaches. BA - is a description of how business makes money. EA - is a description of how "making money" is enabled through data, application, and technologies.
EA work with value stream and capabilities BUT it's not their responsibility. It's an unfortunate state where EA are basically supposed to do everything because someone else is not doing their job properly. Ideally, EA should take the Capability Model from BAs... in reality, they end-up creating their own Capability Models because the business is too lazy to do it themselves.
Anyways, it's a discussion that people are having since early 1980s. To keep it simple: EA is about business & IT alignment. Nothing more, nothing less. But the process of alignment probably needs a few hundred pages to explain it properly.
Wow, that's a great addition to the podcast episode, thank you for sharing! Indeed they are not the same while they share a lot. The most important thing is both professions operate on business level and aim to help it grow and operate - but surely from different POVs.
I really appreciate your detailed thoughts on this! It’s always enlightening to hear from different perspectives, especially from someone following along from Ukraine. Thank you for being part of this discussion!