Chapter 3: Planning for Continuous Change

This chapter introduces adaptive planning to manage continuous change by avoiding analysis paralysis and reactive chaos. It details three principles: balancing near-term focus with long-term vision, managing dependencies, and prioritizing investments.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you'll be able to:

Apply three planning principles to manage continuous change effectively
Balance near-term focus with long-term vision in architecture planning
Identify and manage dependencies between projects and initiatives
Prioritize investments based on strategic value and architectural impact

Key Concepts

PrioritizeApplyBalanceIdentifyadaptive planningPolitical and Policy Cycles (3-5 years)Budget Cycles (Annual)Technology Cycles (3-10 years)Organizational Cycles (Variable)Stranded investmentsIncomplete transformationsTechnical debt accumulation

Self-Assessment

0/4 completed

Before moving to the next chapter, ensure you can:

Explain the two failure modes in architecture planning and how to avoid themDescribe how to balance near-term and long-term planning perspectivesIdentify and map dependencies between initiativesApply prioritization criteria to an initiative portfolio