What is Enterprise Architecture?

The last few years, I have been predominantly working on large scale projects. These projects have a high impact either on account of their scope (enterprise wide) or on account of their cost. Previously, the area of Enterprise Architecture (EA) had been somewhat of a mystery to me. Even though I was dealing with some of the aspects that were related to EA, I wasn't clear on what it really meant. On top of that, there was that ongoing debate on SOA vs EA, which still continues. So, I started looking at the various frameworks like Zachman and TOGAF, which definitely helped put things into perspective.

In that same spirit of inquisitiveness, last week (May 15-18, 2007), I attended the Enterprise Architecture Workshop by Bredemeyer Consulting. My biggest takeaways from that experience were:

1. Enterprise Architecture is nothing else but Architecture done at the enterprise level.
2. There will always be challenges around you. Focus on tackling only those challenges that directly affect the implementation of the business strategy.
3. There is no such thing as too low a level. If delving to the lowest level of detail is important for the success of your initiative; Do it.