Like many midsize companies, my organization realized at a certain point that its IT systems were becoming a major cost burden that needed controlling. We had around 1,000 applications, mostly owned by business units, a few hundred of which were substantially hand-crafted open-source developments, and two to three dozen that were multi-million pound investments.
The absence of any systematic architectural planning had created the all too familiar spaghetti-like situation which was difficult to sustain, and even more difficult to change. So the organization decided to create the role of Enterprise Architect, and appointed yours truly.
