ACAITA Partnership Recommendation

There are a number of groups, professional associations, organizations involved with developing and forwarding the practice of IT architecture. The ones I see relevant to developing an IT Architecture association are as follows;

1. IASA - An association for all IT Architects
2. OpenGroup - Vendor neutral IT standards and certifications
3. AEA - Association of Enterprise Architects
4. EACOE - Enterprise Architecture Centre of Excellence
5. FEAC - Training and Certification Institution for Enterprise Architects
6. ISC - Vendor-neutral education products, career services, and Gold Standard credentials to professionals.
7. CIPS - Canada's association of Information Technology (IT) professionals
8. BAG - Business Architecture Guild 

I believe any of these have valuable resources that could support, and be useful to, the ACAITA membership. I believe the IASA provides the broadest view into architecture, where the other organizations are more focused on an area of architecture, such as; security, business, the enterprise, or IT in general.

I recommend the ACAITA aligns itself with two or three of these groups / associations as determined by the resources they can make available toward growing the architectural capabilities of Atlantic Canadians. To start, I believe a few of us should consider becoming full members of the IASA Canada chapter with the intention to form the Atlantic Canada chapter. I also recommend we align ourselves with one or two of the training and certification groups... I believe this can wait until we have our association alignment.

ACAITA Inaugural meeting Halifax

We had an outstanding inaugural meeting of the Atlantic Canada Association of Information Technology Architects (ACAITA). Seven Halifax members (and one ST. John's member) came out to the 2nd Floor of the Lower Deck to share some nachos, some great conversation about the state of Enterprise Architecture (and beyond), and to share a few beers. It was so great to meet like minded technical people who are very interested in talking about IT Architecture. I enjoyed the conversation, as it was as broad as it was deep. I'll summarize what I took from the evening in three main themes;

The Highlights

These are what I consider the highlights of the discussion. It may have been different for other participants, this is what stood out for me.

• Attracting Diversity - we need diversity in the group! It would make the group stronger, more resilient to changes, and help it last beyond one or two peoples efforts. When we talked diversity it mostly focused on a good spread of ages and experience and how there was much that could be shared to bring younger IT people into the architect roles. The diversity also included discussion from the broader sense of gender and ethnic / cultural background. In the end, it was mostly focused on age and experience and including as much diversity as we could.
• Atlantic Canadian Architects are well prepared - the Atlantic Canada market is smaller for IT Architects, and yet, the responsibilities and opportunities are not specialized, the IT Architects in Atlantic Canada have therefore developed broad experience. In other words, they have filled many of the Architectural roles because the work needed to get done and they were the most appropriate to get it done. This is a real strength for IT Architects in Atlantic Canada. To be a good Architect you need to see the big picture and having a wide range of experience is essential.
• Remain Technology Agnostic - we agreed that it is best to remain technology agnostic. This means we never align ourselves with a particular vendor, framework, approach, methodology, partner, certification, training, etc. This means that we encourage discussion about everything architectural and how different technologies and approaches work together and the best way to get something done. This means we encourage involvement from all vendors, frameworks, methodologies, etc... in the end, deepening our understanding of how to work with all vendors products, methodologies, frameworks, etc... is best for everyone. 

The Summary

In addition to the highlights there are other discussion themes worth mentioning

• We have a good number of very experienced Architects in Atlantic Canada who have worked internationally and across all the different architectural disciplines. When you consider our associations vision to become internationally known for our architectural abilities we already have a very solid foundation.

  

  The many roles of the IT Architect.

• These kinds of groups / associations have come and gone over the past 30 years and it is a good idea to start meeting again. There is great value both for the profession and for the technology industries in Atlantic Canada. Mostly, its having other architects to discuss how to best get things done and to deepen understanding of emerging technologies. We also need to reach out to the younger IT professionals to be sure the IT Architecture within Atlantic Canada stays strong and healthy. 
• Having this as an Atlantic Canada initiative is a really good idea. This mostly comes from Atlantic Canada being a relatively small market and many IT professionals know one another. It is also well aligned with how many public and private organizations function within Atlantic Canada. When wanting to partner and get support from these organizations it is important that we span all four Atlantic provinces so we can reduce duplication of effort and have broader impact in all we do.

The Next Steps

• Get together often, formally and informally - yes, it is a good idea to have formalized meetings and events, but it is also a good idea to get together informally for Lunch, or a game of pool, and just talk architecture. We agreed we need as many informal meetings as formal meetings.
• Use the #ACAITA hashtag - whenever you post or use online networks / media use the #ACAITA hashtag. This hashtag will assist in bringing the communities online discussion together and followed. 
• Attend all kinds of events as a ACAITA member - discussing architecture (as a member of the ACAITA) at the many technology and other events will bring our association more attention. Good IT architecture is needed wherever a technology initiative is underway. Get involved, reach out, talk architecture.
• Identify all the IT Architecture and related education programs in Atlantic Canada - we agreed it would be very useful to gather a list of as many of the computer science, technology and business programs that wouldbe interested in IT architecture.
• Identify the Architectural Groups we could consider partnering - we also need to consider all the existing associations that would be useful to align ourselves. This could be of great assistance to our collective success, but also save us a lot of time and effort by learning from those who have gone before us.

A bold vision for Atlantic Canada Association of IT Architects

I had a bit of an epiphany when thinking about the purpose of the Atlantic Canada Association of IT Architects. I was thinking about to things;

1. What is going to attract membership to share with, and access, the association.
2. How are we going to engage public and private sector organizations is a meaningful way.

My thinking ended up rewriting the vision statement for the organization to be much more bold and broad. I changed the vision to be;

Our Vision is for Atlantic Canada to become world renowned for our Information Technology Architectural excellence. This excellence will support, and be a pillar for, the technology sector economy within all four provinces of Atlantic Canada. Overall the ACAITA will increase the awareness, effectiveness, and value of Information Technology Architecture for practitioners and organizations. Atlantic Canada will be recognized worldwide for its Architectural excellence and effectiveness.

The rational for this altered vision is to attract members and engage the sector. More specifically, I believe the following themes are important when wanting to fulfill these two key aspects of building an association (and community).

• We need a massive way to inspire people to become members, and to contribute. Even though there is already a sharing economy within most technology communities, a lot of what people are looking for is access. Access to knowledge, access to education, access to mentorship, access to other professional associations, access to learning materials, access to conferences, access to opportunities, etc... As much as people want to share, they also want access to resources. I believe the association can leverage its membership, and bold vision, to create partnerships and ease peoples access to resources.
• To become further engaged with the public and private sectors we need to continue to contribute in a meaningful, and economic way. We need to offer exemplary skills and knowledge that are recognized worldwide further attracting technology projects to Atlantic Canada. 
• As an association we need funding sources. As active contributors to the Atlantic provinces economic future it will be easier to establish partnerships and find sources of funding if we are recognized as adding value and essential resources.

What are your thoughts to my thinking in having a more bold and broad vision for the ACAITA?