Enterprise Architects & Transformation Execs - Why EA Gets Bypassed

Ask anyone for the most reliable car they can buy, and the first answer you'll hear is almost certainly Toyota. Now ask an executive who they call when their organization needs a well-architected transformation. I have asked, for years, on both sides of the Atlantic. The answer is never "Enterprise Architecture." Half the time, when I ask about it directly, what I get back is "what's that?" This should be impossible. EA has had thirty-odd years of marketing, certification programs, credentialed academics, and an entire standards body promoting it. With that much energy behind it, TOGAF should be a household name in every boardroom. It isn't. And I've stopped believing that's a marketing failure. It's structural. The framework's own entry requirements manufacture the path around it. The people who do the hard work of turning symptoms into well-formed problems end up holding everything they need to skip EA entirely and go straight to implementation. So they do. And the framework's last line of defense, "well, it wasn't properly implemented", turns out to be the most damning thing you can say about it. Full argument on my Substack, link in the comments. And if you've lived this from either side of the fence, I want to hear your story. #EnterpriseArchitecture #DigitalTransformation #Leadership #Governance #DecisionMaking