IT projects should be in alignment with business objectives. You shouldn't sacrifice one for the other. Make the business perfectly happy but kill your ability to have effective IT and you end up mired in [[technical debt]] and unable to adapt. Meanwhile, projects that make IT perfectly happy may force impossible compromises across the business. The following [[Checklists]] can tell you if you're in alignment - it outlines natural effects of using good principles. > [!tip] Perfect Business-IT Alignment occurs when your IT [[Defining Project|Project]] > - Fulfills short-term business needs > - Contributes toward long-term goals > - Is implemented without undue cost/risk > - Leverages existing IT assets to the extent possible > - Doesn't create redundant IT assets > - Is forward-reusable for future projects > - Leverages technologies you've selected for the long term > - Doesn't introduce new [[Simplicity|complexity]] > - Isn't implemented outside existing pipelines Checking these boxes requires **knowing** what "long term technologies" (e.g.) you've selected. This is a reason to have an [[Enterprise Architecture]]. It's the real reason for the _existence_ of EA, actually. It helps enable alignment across [[IT Project Actors]]. **** # More ## Source - [[The Practice of Enterprise Architecture]] ## Related