This book is a career guide for aspiring, current Enterprise Architects or those leading EA teams or considering this role as a career change. This book will help you understand what is in store for you if you are a new or an aspiring EA.

Step One will help you assess whether you are qualified to do the job. Steps Two and Three will help you learn the skills and abilities you need to excel in the role as well as help you define your future in the role. In these steps, you will listen and learn information about deciding to pursue a career in enterprise architecture. Steps Four and Five will allow you to visualize and think like a master architect. These steps will provide a step-by-step approach to gaining the hard and soft skills you need to be in the top 10 percent of all enterprise and IT architects.

If you are a leader, manager, or director responsible for direction and career development of an architecture team, you may use Steps One and Two to identify potential architects and hone development plans for your teams. You'll be very interested in Step Three, where you'll learn about team design as well as how to plan for soft-skill development. In Steps Four and Five, you will learn how to eliminate barriers to advancement, how to assist others in career mapping, and how to drive your careers, departments, and organizations. If you are a chief information officer, step five of the book will likely hold the most interest for you.