John Zachman - Collected Quotes

"[Enterprise Architecture is] the set of descriptive representations (i. e., models) that are relevant for describing an Enterprise such that it can be produced to management's requirements (quality) and maintained over the period of its useful life." (John Zachman, 1987)

"The increased scope of design and levels of complexity of information systems implementations are forcing the use of some logical construct (or architecture) for defining and controlling the interfaces and the integration of all of the components of the system." (John Zachman, "A Framework for Information Systems Architecture", IBM Systems Journal 26, 1987) 

"[...] to keep the business from disintegrating, the concept of information systems architecture is becoming less of an option and more of a necessity." (John Zachman, "A Framework for Information Systems Architecture", IBM Systems Journal 26, 1987) 

"We are having difficulties communicating with one another about information systems architecture, because a set of architectural representations exists, instead of a single architecture. One is not right and another wrong. The architectures are different. They are additive and complementary. There are reasons for electing to expend the resources for developing each architectural representation. And there are risks associated with not developing any one of the architectural representations." (John Zachman, "A Framework for Information Systems Architecture", IBM Systems Journal 26, 1987) 

"With increasing size and complexity of the implementations of information systems, it is necessary to use some logical construct (or architecture) for defining and controlling the interfaces and the integration of all of the components of the system." (John Zachman, "A Framework for Information Systems Architecture", IBM Systems Journal 26, 1987) 

"Most programming tools and techniques focus on one aspect or a few related aspects of a system. The details of the aspect they select are shown in utmost clarity, but other details may be obscured or forgotten." (John Zachman, "Extending and Formalizing the Framework for Information Systems Architecture", 1992)

"When the rate of change increases to the point that real time required to assimilate change exceeds the time in with change must be manifest, the enterprise is going to find itself in deep yogurt." (John Zachman, 1994)

"Issues of quality, timeliness and change are the conditions that are forcing us to face up to the issues of enterprise architecture. The precedent of all the older disciplines known today establishes the concept of architecture as central to the ability to produce quality and timely results and to manage change in complex products. Architecture is the cornerstone for containing enterprise frustration and leveraging technology innovations to fulfill the expectations of a viable and dynamic Information Age enterprise." (John Zachman, "Enterprise Architecture: The Issue of The Century", 1997)

"Architecture is the set of descriptive representations that are required in order to create an object. If you can’t describe it, you can’t create it. Also, if you ever want to change the object you created, Architecture constitutes the baseline for changing the object once it is created; that is, it is the baseline for changing the object IF you retain the descriptive representations used in its creation and IF you ensure that the descriptive representations are always maintained consistent with the instantiation." (John Zachman, "Architecture Is Architecture Is Architecture", [Ed. Leon A Kappelman, "The Sim Guide To Enterprise Architecture"] 2009)

"What Architecture is, is not arbitrary and it is not negotiable. Architecture is the total set of intersections between the Abstractions and the Perspectives that constitute the set of relevant descriptive representations for any object to be created." (John Zachman, "Architecture Is Architecture Is Architecture", [Ed. Leon A Kappelman, "The Sim Guide To Enterprise Architecture"] 2009)

"It is not adequate merely to produce running code. In the long term, enterprise value lies in the models themselves. They have intrinsic value in their own right, as they constitute the baseline for managing change." (John Zachman)