Summary

In this chapter, we browsed through some of the most widespread frameworks in the IT industry. You learned that TOGAF and ArchiMate are the languages of enterprise architects. As a software architect, you might be brought in to draw architectural patterns and some EA building blocks. We then reviewed NIST and COBIT for Risk, which come in handy to drive a security practice. We finally explored ITIL, the de facto ITSM framework used by most organizations. By understanding the essential parts of these frameworks, you should be able to optimize your interactions with other stakeholders. These extra skills might become a differentiation factor between you and an average software architect. Of course, I encourage you to explore some of the frameworks further, as these were only introduced in this chapter.

In the next chapter, I will introduce a software architecture methodology that I have been using at different places and that you will undoubtedly encounter sooner or later...