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transforming it into an iterative process, while
introducing characteristics such as solution
partitioning and constant client feedback, with the
clear objectives of reaching a methodology capable
of deliver faster results to the clients, while dealing
with a big requirements uncertainty (when compared
with the standard methodologies).
2 PROBLEM
The uncertain environment which the enterprises
face nowadays, are closely connected with the
clients own changing requirements and visions of
the business. Not surprisingly, maintaining control
over the requirements process is nearly impossible
as each customer group pushes for its own interests
and the changing technologies lure customers into
escalating demands (Brooks, JoAnn M. and all,
2008).
The surrounding environments and the
competitiveness of the markets originate enormous
difficulties when trying to clearly define
requirements, making the development of enterprise
architectures an even more difficult process. Not
rarely, this problem leads projects into a two way
path, where either the project continues its normal
pace, keeps all the original plans ignoring the
changing environment and requirements ending in a
completely failed project unable to achieve the
expected results, either it tries to answer in an
appropriate way to the changes and uncertainty of
the requirements and ends up completely failing the
predicted and agreed time schedule and/or budget.
Alongside with this uncertain environment it is
the organizations increasing needs and expectations
for shorter cycles with production of return, as well
as faster results (Spewak, S. and Tiemann, M.,
2006). The constant changing environment and
relentless competition that enterprises face today
brings them a high necessity for fast results in all the
areas evolving the business in order to adapt and
create new opportunities (Land, Martin O., and all,
2009).
Some years ago, the problems identified above
(environment uncertainty and demand for faster
results), were deeply evident on the software
development industry, while this started being one
of the most competitive and fast-growing industries.
At this time started being globally recognized the
urgent need for efficient methods and practices
capable of facing the recognized demands. As an
attempt to answer those demands, the notion of agile
approaches started rising, where instead of
developing software as a big complex and flat
process ending in a big delivery, it would be done in
an iterative way with several small deliveries in
order to embrace and manage the possible changes
that may happen along the process, while dividing a
big problem into smaller ones (Sommerville, I,
2010).
Analysing in a more particular way, the projects
of enterprise architecture development are not
different from the generality and in this case there
are some problems that with the growing of the
companies had become more and more difficult to
deal which reclaim for a methodology capable of
dealing with those problems in the same way agile
approaches did on the software development
projects.
Quite often in EA projects, the clients find
themselves obligated to choose from their business
functions, the ones that must be actually considered
on the architecture. Other functions that may also be
important and critical end up being left behind, due
to the limited amount of time allocated to the
completion of the project (Townsend, J., and all,
2008). Those cases show us that we can achieve a
level of independency between systems, capable of
being explored in a way that delivering the results of
different systems separately and in several iterations
becomes a requirement and success factor instead of
an obligation due to the tight schedules or
complexity of the project.
As a way to summarize our problem we present
the questions that we try to answer with our work:
Are the demands for ability to support uncertain
environments and delivery of fast results, in
Enterprise Architecture, achievable by
extrapolating Agile Software Development
approaches characteristics?
Are process iterations, small releases and
continuous client feedback the correct
characteristics able to achieve faster
results and
bigger response capacity to changing
requirements?
Is a standard and traditional enterprise
architecture methodology capable of “accepting”
the introduction of agile characteristics
?
3 RELATED WORK
3.1 Agile Software Development
Agile Software Development appeared has an
answer to the fast changing, uncertain and
unpredictable environments that surrounded the
ExtremeEnterpriseArchitecturePlanning(XEAP)-ExtrapolatingAgileCharacteristicstotheDevelopmentofEnterprise
Architectures
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