I typically try to avoid “buzz” terms like Enterprise Architecture, but sometimes you just need a term. This is one such case. It is either use a term, or paragraphs of explanations. This is intended to be the paragraphs to define the term, Enterprise Architecture.
The term Enterprise Architecture (EA) is not well defined. A quick look at Wikipedia makes this fact more than evident. There are several competing interpretations of EA. But all of these interpretations have a common element – The structure of components to address the needs of a larger system. Typically in these definitions the larger system is the business goals or processes. However, for the IT staff, business goals are not really the system they consider. And if they say that it is, look for their ITIL coffee cup and it will probably be full of ITIL Kool-Aid. No, for the IT folks, Enterprise Architecture is all about services and systems.