"When reading Tom Graves’s forthcoming book, Whole Enterprise Architecture, I’m reminded of Thomas Schön’s concept of the reflective practitioner.
I would argue that Tom Grave’s in this book not only reflects on the practice of Enterprise Architecture, but also underscores the importance of reflectivity in the practice of EA.
Tom Graves has long been writing–and reflecting–on EA on his weblog, Tetradian, and much of this has found its way into numerous books. The present book serves as a nice introduction to his writings, it is indeed something of a mix tape, each chapter being a condensed version of some of his books. In effect you get many books for the price of one (though at the same time it makes the book less unique).
However, the collection of chapters not only makes for an introduction to Grave’s writings, it also is a quick paced introduction to the domain of EA, taking the reader from the practices and basics of EA over to the core concept, namely ”the whole EA”. This concept is central to Grave's writing and has many interesting aspects.
Grave’s promotes a humanistic view of EA, putting people first and emphasises a relational and broad understanding of the scope of EA. There are many insights and quotes throughout the book, like: 'The real product of EA is not the diagrams, but the social process by which we arrived at those diagrams, which is not the same thing at all'.
The book, richly illustrated is a stimulating read and a nice travel companion as such. Importantly, it does invite you to reflect on your own practice, which is never a bad thing."
