Enterprise Architecture in the NHS is alive with debate and creativity. The role of this branch of the profession --while sometimes overlooked-- asserts itself especially in periods of change. That is normal in our extraordinary organisation, NHS England, where the complexity of the business and the challenges are in themselves a good reason to work … Continue reading Axiomatic Design Process for Ecosystem Enterprise Architecture

NHSE CTO #Sonia Patel is leading a large initiative across the NHS and its ecosystem under the banner of #let's talk architecture . This effort promotes the development of communication channels and effective collaboration across all levels of our stakeholders, service and technical teams, obviously including our Enterprise and Solution Architecture teams. To contribute to … Continue reading I&AM Requirements Analysis: A Method for Collaborative Solution Development

The "end" of NHS England is being interpreted as a problem or as a solution from various perspectives. That discussion certainly has its place, but the current situation should be also a moment of serious enquiry into the problems our organisation has.Financial/budgetary considerations and wider policy directions led the UK Government to decide this enormous … Continue reading The Mission of Enterprise Architecture

Continuing with the analysis, I ask myself - Where did we fail? While recognising a wealth of experience and know-how in the NHS England teams, immense commitment and value that should not be lost in the transition, we should still be able to avoid mere continuity. Leaders in our organisation have been clear, especially during … Continue reading Governance for Change

I am covering three key themes in these postings: Governance, Interoperability and Consolidation. In the previous article I described how a “way of working” based on autonomous programmes and platforms determines a peculiar governance culture which mixes financial and design (architecture) governance, so that, essentially, we have a "product/programme-centric" strategy and ultimately a lack of … Continue reading Interoperability and Consolidation of Identity Services

As we progress at NHS England towards the merger with DHSC, our new tasks and the continuation of long-sought improvements, we can see the need to clarify, to "right the wrongs" that have blocked for so long the digital agenda. One of those blockers is the pervasive misunderstanding and confusion about the respective roles of … Continue reading Understanding NHS Centralisation and Decentralisation