Thanks for this detailed response. Just a few thoughts in reply.
I don't claim any great expertise, this is just something that has
interested me. I liked the idea of UML as a design/architecture tool,
but once I started to investigate it I found a completely contrasting
point of view about its usefulness for such, and one that I have moved
across to, specifically that 'the code is the design'.
I have no argument on the need for planning to coordinate the activities
of many people with different expertise in large projects. I do question
the use of the terms 'Enterprise Architecture' and 'Software Architect'
to describe it. I am much more happy with the concepts of a
'Business-Analyst' as someone concerned with people and process
(workflow etc) and 'Software (Systems) Engineer' or 'Information
Technologist' as someone concerned with managing information and how to
build IT systems to do it.
No matter how you label the different players or roles, all of the
things people talk about, for example in the Zachman Diagram - or any
other such tool - all of those things actually get done. If they aren't
done formally then they are done informally, often in the minds of a few
people, often not consciously.
