Enterprise architects aren’t good at everything, but we are very good at seeing the bigger picture and the hidden opportunities in it.
We come to this by being systems thinkers (in the Peter Senge sense, not in the digital or buttons & wires sense).
Either our natural inclination to look at things as a system of inter-related elements with likely hidden dynamics draws us to architecture. Or we learn to increasingly analyse problem and opportunity statements from this perspective.
Once we map all the obvious elements of a problem, we get interested in finding the non-obvious elements that are or could be at play.
This is an uncommon perspective. Most people either take things at face value, only registering the most obvious characteristics. Or they are focused on the domain they understand and can’t see the connections and influences impacting to and from other domains.
It’s these overlaps and interactions between domains of expertise, and non-obvious yet impact elements that often allow only us systems thinkers to see through a fog and highlight openings for action.
I often take this for granted, but when I’m working with people who don’t have this systems thinking bias, they’re often entranced by this super power.
The trick is not to be a boffin about it 😉