In this members-only meeting, the Architecture Forum:
- Reviewed the
feedback from around 50 members, each from different organizations, on
what the next version of TOGAF should be and how to proceed
- Reviewed
the current TOGAF 9 materials and established a roadmap and action plan
for the future development of TOGAF
- Received reports on a
number of important ongoing projects and liaisons
- Heard from new members or new attendees of their expectations
from joining the Architecture Forum
- Received an introduction to the consensus
process of The Open Group
- Heard a report on the status and
future directions of TOGAF certification
The presentations and detailed minutes of these proceedings will be
available shortly from the
Architecture
Forum members' web site.
Topics covered:
New Member/Attendee
Expectations from the Architecture Forum
The membership of the Architecture Forum continues to grow rapidly.
Five members attending the Forum for the first time provided a brief
statement addressing their reasons for joining and their expectations
from participation:
- Devoteam Consulting
- Getronics
- Philips
- SAP
- Swiss Government
Member Views on the
Evolution of TOGAF
Between January and April 2007, 50 members of the Architecture Forum
were contacted by the Forum Director, Chair, or Vice-Chair. A substantive
report was circulated to members just before the meeting providing a
summary of the major findings supported by a more detailed set of
supporting statements. The Forum reviewed and accepted the major findings
which will guide the future development of TOGAF:
- Closer alignment with business
- A need to improve the ease-of-use of TOGAF
- Evolution not revolution
- An open consensus-based development environment
Review of TOGAF 9 v0.7
TOGAF 9 has been under development for a number of years. Work has
been done on the detailed content and the structure of the document.
Draft 0.7 represents the first consolidated draft, presented in a
suitable form for detailed review.
This review was at a high level and focused on the extent to which
the current draft meets the guidelines defined by the membership survey.
There was agreement that some important work needs to be done to provide
a more structured basis for the continued development of TOGAF 9.
- Modeling work to show any areas where the existing steps within
TOGAF are not fully connected
- An activity to categorize the different parts of TOGAF as
core/non-core/peripheral to ensure that the evolution not revolution
guideline can be followed
Work will continue on the development of additional materials for
inclusion in the next version of TOGAF.
TOGAF/Eclipse Process Framework
Chris Armstrong (Armstrong Process Group) presented the output of a
successful trial exercise to model the processes of TOGAF 8.1.1
using the Eclipse Process Framework.
Chris Greenslade (CLARS) presented an update on the current status of
TOGAF certification and proposals for changes to some aspects of the
certification progress to ensure consistency. The number of certified
TOGAF practitioners is now above 2500.
Andrew Josey (The Open Group) presented the overall processes within
which the Architecture Forum is expected to
operate. In particular, the presentation focused on the means by which
consensus is achieved and measured. A better understanding of the way in
which The Open Group operates is expected to help in the operation of
the Architecture Forum.
Dave van Gelder (CapGemini) and Ian
McCall (IBM) worked with Andrew Josey to simplify the charter of the
Architecture Forum, which everyone agreed was too heavyweight. The
revised charter was approved by the Forum, together with a process for
proposing changes.
Update reports were provided on the following topics:
- TOGAF 9 Development: Judith Jones, Architecting-the-Enterprise
- Service Oriented Architectures: Chris Harding, The Open Group
- MDA/TOGAF Synergy Project: Chris Armstrong, Armstrong Process
Group
- Business Architecture Work Group: Walter Stahlecker, Open Group
Fellow
- Building Blocks/Architecture Information Base Project: Bill
Estrem, Metaplexity
Associates
- ITIL/TOGAF Synergy: Serge Thorn, Serano
- COBIT/ISACA: Stuart Macgregor, Real IRM Solutions
Overall, this was an extremely productive meeting, which addressed a
number of potential barriers to the future development of TOGAF and
established intensive projects to address the issues raised before the
next meeting.
Specific outputs:
- Report on the consultation process with existing members
- Draft of the ITIL/TOGAF Touch-Point White Paper
- Revised operating procedures (charter) for the Architecture Forum
- Partial model of TOGAF 8.1.1 built with the Eclipse Framework
- Proposals for development of TOGAF certification
In addition, the structure of the project work area ("Plato pages")
was streamlined to improve the visibility of working group activities to
the broad membership of the Forum.
Subject to an email ballot of the Forum membership, the ITIL/TOGAF
Touchpoints White Paper will be published.
Over the next three months intensive working groups will "meet" weekly to
progress two major topics:
- Modelling of the TOGAF processes
- Classification of the different elements of TOGAF and in
particular definition of the core
The existing certification working group will progress the proposed
enhancements to TOGAF certification.
Work will continue on the development of new and updated material for
TOGAF 9, using the existing Draft 0.7 as a baseline and formal change
proposals as the vehicle for submitting changes.
The Forum will next meet in Austin in July 2007.
