Who Still Cares About Enterprise Architecture in 2021? – Part 1 of a 6‑Part Series

In the first installment of a six‑part series titled “Who Still Cares About Enterprise Architecture in 2021?”, the author outlines the scope of the series, which will cover the current footprint of EA, the potential demise of the EA architect role, the influence of major players such as The Open Group, AWS, and Azure, the role of EA tool vendors, and related certifications.

The author begins by analysing Google Trends data, showing that search interest for the term “Enterprise Architecture” has dropped by more than 50 % since 2016 and over 75 % since 2004. Related terms such as “Business Architecture”, “Application Lifecycle Management”, “Data Management”, and “Technology Management” have also seen a steady decline, indicating waning attention to EA topics.

The article then argues that the two most important EA frameworks—TOGAF (first released in 1995) and the Zachman Framework (first released in 1987)—have not received substantial updates in the past decade. The latest TOGAF version (9.2, April 2018) still largely mirrors earlier editions, and certified practitioners are not required to recertify for minor releases, suggesting that these frameworks are increasingly out‑of‑date for today’s digital‑disruption era.

Another observation is that organizations with large legacy‑IT estates still value EA roles, whereas companies that have largely migrated to modern cloud‑native environments often do not employ enterprise architects. In firms such as Netflix or Amazon, job postings for “Enterprise Architect” are scarce, reinforcing the perception that EA is less relevant in fast‑moving digital companies.

The author concludes by posing the central questions: Is enterprise architecture dead? Does it still matter in 2021? What role does it play in the digital age? The next parts of the series will address these questions and present arguments against the notion that EA is ending.

Thank you for reading, and feel free to share your thoughts or disagreements in the comments.