FAA’s Enterprise Services Center (ESC) Information Technology Enterprise Architect (EA) team is one that communicates with customers, businesses, and various technology teams to support ESC’s leadership strategic initiatives. EA’s are responsible for providing analysis, technology evaluations, system solutions, designs, documentation, and diagrams of processes for the organization.
As the ESC embraces a business process that implements lean practices for delivering superior software systems in the shortest sustainable time (the SAFe Agile framework), the EA team is using ‘Architectural Runways’ to support each of the epic “project” initiatives.
While the team members may not be interested in actual signs and markings of a runway as we know it, they are interested in using the technical infrastructure instantiated in code to help their projects “lift off” for a successful implementation.
Architectural Runways provide the business process and technical infrastructure integration needed to support the implementation of features without having excessive delays.
Oddly enough, Architectural Runways are used for projects that are outside of the SAFe Agile framework. The Architectural Runway information is communicated consistently by utilizing standard templates. Each Architectural Runway provides the process flow from left to right, including the current and future state, and identifies any new or existing assets required for the initiative. There are some Architectural Runways which provide more information than others depending on the complexity of the business requirement.
It would be a challenge for any organizational team to have detailed insight and understanding of all systems within the enterprise. The ESC EA’s main focus is to collaborate with various organizational teams to avoid producing redundant and/or conflicting systems. These EA’s also provide guidance on licensing of software, and have an acute awareness of security and best practice policies. The ESC Architectural Runways are a significant SAFe Agile framework epic enabler and contribute to “making the work visible” for all teams throughout the organization.
