EA Metrics
Measuring whether architecture work changed anything.
5 to work through
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intermediate
An enterprise architecture function needs to demonstrate value. Which metrics are meaningful and which are vanity?
2 min answer -
intermediate
Leadership wants to buy an enterprise architecture repository tool. How do you advise?
1 min answer -
advanced
An architecture practice reports 92% standards compliance (up from 61%), an application inventory at 100% coverage, and 40 reference architectures published. Over the same period, lead time for changes has risen from 9 to 17 days and the change failure rate is flat. What is happening, and what would you measure instead?
3 min answer -
advanced
An enterprise architecture function reports on standards compliance and diagram coverage. Leadership cannot tell whether it is adding value. What should it measure instead?
2 min answer -
advanced
How would you demonstrate that an architecture practice is worth its cost?
2 min answer
4 terms in this topic
Boundary-Crossing Count
The number of teams that must change to deliver a median feature - the most revealing and least used architecture metric, because it measures whether…
practiceCoordination-Cost Metric
The number of independently-owned services and teams that must change together for a typical feature - the clearest available signal that architectur…
metricEA Metrics
Measuring whether an architecture practice is producing value — where output metrics mislead and outcome metrics are harder but real.
metricEA Value Metrics
Measures that demonstrate what an enterprise architecture function has changed, chosen to avoid rewarding documentation volume.
Neighbouring topics
Enterprise Architecture
General material on architecture at portfolio and estate scale.
EA Domains
Business, application, data and technology architecture as viewpoints.
Application Architecture
The application estate as a designed portfolio rather than an accumulation.
Technology Architecture
Platforms, runtimes and infrastructure standards across the estate.
Capability Maps in EA
The stable frame for hanging investment, ownership and health off.
Application Portfolio Management
Inventory, ownership, cost and health for every application.
Application Rationalisation
Retire, consolidate, replatform — and why retirement is under-applied.
Technology Standards
Guidance that teams follow because it helps, not because it is mandated.
Technology Radar
Adopt, trial, assess and hold — with movement, dates and owners.
Reference Architectures
Pre-approved templates for recurring solution shapes.
Architecture Governance
Preventive, automated controls rather than review meetings.
Architecture Review Boards
Thresholds, early engagement and a real route to accept deviation.
Enterprise Integration
Estate-wide integration strategy, standards and shared infrastructure.
TOGAF
The ADM as a checklist, tailored rather than followed literally.
EA Frameworks
Zachman, FEAF and others — vocabulary rather than method.
Architecture Roadmaps
Sequencing change across an estate with dependencies and funding.
Paved Roads
Making the supported path the easiest path, with a way to leave it.
Platform Teams
Reducing other teams' cognitive load, measured by adoption.
InnerSource
Open-source collaboration practices applied inside an organisation.