At this year’s Forrester IT Forum, time constraints and the sheer number of attendees’ questions for our keynote speakers resulted in many questions going unanswered. We’ve reached out to our analysts to answer some of these questions. Here they are:

Question:
Should architects be embedded in business, for IT projects? Why? And for what benefit? Where do you put project management in the business? For IT projects.

Answer from Jeff Scott, Senior Analyst:
There is no “should.” We will see architects located in IT and the business based on the organization’s goals and context. I see EA eventually breaking into three distinct groups over time. Infrastructure architects located in I&O who design the extended infrastructure, application architects located in IT who focus on delivery of business solutions, and business architects located in IT and the business who focus on business strategy. Business architects located in the business generally focus on business change and the benefit is providing a model of the business to executives that connects the disparate lines of business. I don’t see IT project managers moving to the business in any big way. Someone has to oversee all the technology-based issues in a project and usually that is the PM.