Portfolio ↗

Quiz

2627 questions of the kind that actually get asked — in interviews, in architecture review boards, and by the person who has to run the thing at 3 AM. Every answer states the trade-off rather than the slogan, and says when the obvious choice is the wrong one.

All areas2627 Architecture Fundamentals81 Distributed Systems101 Data Architecture90 Cloud Architecture77 Networking86 API & Integration Architecture78 Reliability & Resilience88 Observability81 Performance & Capacity Engineering90 Security Architecture85 Cost Architecture & FinOps82 Business Architecture93 Architecture Communication91 Enterprise Architecture91 Legacy Modernization82 AI-Era Architecture86 Software Architecture & Engineering84 Architecture Patterns84 Architecture Decision-Making91 The Architect's Meta-Skills92 Delivery & Release Engineering93 Platform Engineering & Developer Experience92 Testing & Quality Architecture90 Data Platform Architecture88 Streaming & Real-Time Data93 Data Governance & Semantics81 Frontend & Experience Architecture91 Edge, Mobile & IoT88 Regulatory & Data Protection Architecture90 Assurance, Audit & Model Risk88
Difficulty Any beginner intermediate advanced

45 questions in Enterprise Architecture.

  1. Application Architecture intermediate

    You inherit an estate of 300 applications. What do you record about each and what decision does it support?

    2 min answer portfoliolifecycleownershipduplication
  2. Application Portfolio Management intermediate

    A fast-growing company has dozens of internal applications of unknown value. How should the portfolio be assessed, and what decisions should follow?

    2 min answer udaanportfolioassessmenttolerate-invest-migrate
  3. Application Portfolio Management intermediate

    An enterprise has an application portfolio of several hundred systems and cannot decide what to retire. What analysis makes the decision tractable?

    2 min answer portfoliorationalisationtieringevidence
  4. Application Portfolio Management intermediate

    You inherit 300 applications and are asked which to retire first. Estimate what a single low-traffic internal application costs the organisation per year, and say which part of that number should drive the retirement order.

    2 min answer portfoliorationalisationtotal-cost-of-ownershipestimation
  5. Architecture Governance intermediate

    A mid-sized company needs architectural consistency without the overhead of a formal governance function. What is the minimum viable arrangement?

    2 min answer moglixgovernancelightweightdecision-records
  6. Architecture Governance intermediate Multiple choice

    An organisation of 120 teams ships several hundred changes a day. Architecture standards exist as a wiki, adherence is inconsistent, and the review board has a six-week queue. One governance investment can be funded this year. Which comes first?

    3 min answer governancepolicy-as-codeconformancepipelines
  7. Architecture Review Boards intermediate

    An architecture review board reviews everything and has a six-week queue. What should it stop reviewing, and how should the triggers be defined?

    2 min answer review-boardtriggersqueuesignificance
  8. Architecture Review Boards intermediate

    An architecture review board with a six-week queue is changed overnight: its approval becomes advisory, and teams may proceed without it. What happens over the following six months?

    2 min answer governancereview-boardssecond-order-effectsadvisory
  9. Capability Maps in EA intermediate

    An enterprise capability map is complete and current, and no investment decision has been changed by it. What is missing?

    2 min answer capability-mapoverlaysdecisionsea
  10. Capability Maps in EA intermediate

    Review this. A capability map decomposed to four levels - 380 boxes - each carrying an owner name, a maturity score of 1 to 5, a red/amber/green status and links to supporting systems. It took 7 months and two contractors. In the year since publication it has been used once, to answer whether the two business units duplicate capabilities. What would you remove, what would you change, and what would you leave alone?

    3 min answer capability-maps-eadecompositionmaturity-modelsoverlays
  11. Capability Maps in EA intermediate

    You have a capability map and four possible overlays. Which do you use, and how do you choose?

    1 min answer enterprise-architecturecapabilitycommunication
  12. EA Domains intermediate

    An enterprise architecture function is asked to cover business, application, data and technology domains. Where should its effort concentrate in a fast-growing company?

    1 min answer ofbusinessea-domainsprioritisationdata