Architecture governance
enterprise architecture
Architecture governance
Governance should help teams move, not make them queue. We set up principles, decision records and review habits sized to your organisation, so standards get used because they are useful.
In practice
what you end up working with
| Record | Decision | Status |
|---|---|---|
| ADR-014 | Events over point-to-point links | Accepted |
| ADR-015 | One identity provider | Accepted |
| ADR-016 | Keep the reporting database | Review due |
| ADR-017 | Retire file transfers | Proposed |
The problem
The same debate happens on every project, or decisions vanish once the meeting ends.
What it usually looks like.
Standards exist on paper, but each project reads them differently. Decisions are made in meetings and remembered differently afterwards, or an approvals board has become a queue that teams work around.
When to ask for it
- Projects keep reopening decisions that were supposedly settled
- An architecture board exists but teams see it as a hurdle
- An audit or regulator asks why a system was designed the way it was
Scope
agreed in writing before work starts
What the work covers.
In scope
- A short set of architecture principles, written with the teams who apply them
- A decision record practice: format, templates, where records live, who signs off
- A review rhythm for the decisions that are expensive to reverse
- Simple checks that running systems still match the decisions
Not included
- A large framework rollout or a certification programme
- Replacing your existing governance bodies; we fit around them
Approach
small steps, each one reversible
How the work runs.
- Look at how decisions are made today, and where they get lost
- Draft a few principles and a decision format with the people who will use them
- Run the practice on live projects for a few cycles and adjust it
- Hand it over to an owner in your organisation, with the templates and examples
Every engagement also includes decision records, tested releases, documentation you own and a planned handover. How we work
Deliverables
each one ends with something you keep
What you keep.
Deliverables
- Architecture principles your teams helped write
- A decision record practice, with templates
- A review rhythm and simple fitness checks
- A living architecture repository
What it is for
- Faster decisions on the things that matter, and less debate on the things that do not
- A record of why each significant choice was made
- Standards people use because they help
Related
Where this shows up.
Patterns
- Making architecture decisions stick C: Illustrative
Often paired with
- Technical strategy Decide what to build, buy, keep or retire, with the trade-offs written down.
- Cloud and integration architecture Design how systems connect, where they run and what happens when parts fail.
The usual first step A landscape review : A short, fixed-scope look at your systems that ends with a map and a recommendation. You decide what happens next.
Next step
start with the problem, not the service
Bring us the tangled part.
Describe the situation in your own words. We will tell you where we would start, including when the answer is a small piece of work.