Execution-First Enterprise Architecture

Abstract

Architectural decisions can lose their operational meaning, authority, and verifiability as rules, systems, and responsibilities change. This study examines how IBQMI Lean Enterprise Architect (LEA) specifies the connection between architectural decisions and governed action. A documentary analysis of the 2,069-page V1_6 manual applies six conditions for operational binding and distinguishes explicit prescriptions from illustrations, cross-section reconstruction, and unresolved design. Four findings establish a concrete method contribution: LEA links strategic objectives to accountable trade-offs and promotion gates; requires architecture declarations to enter delivery controls; makes evidence a condition of progression; and routes operational results into reviewed change. Its strategic-alignment and experiment procedures each connect responsibilities, records, decision conditions, and feedback within a single source section. LEA thereby supplies integration decisions for adopting organizations and makes the connection between architecture, control, evidence, and change an explicit responsibility of its enterprise architecture method. A bounded comparison with selected TOGAF 10 governance clauses, evolutionary-architecture sources, and the NIST Risk Management Framework locates this contribution alongside established governance practices. An analytical business case and a reproducible technical probe examine selected implementation consequences. The research contributes an inspectable assessment criterion, source-linked findings, and bounded implementation observations. General authority lifecycle rules and override scope remain unresolved; organizational benefits and comparative performance are not measured. Supplementary materials: The accompanying ZIP archive contains the evidence registers, comparison matrix, executable diagnostic code, test fixtures, recorded results, and reproduction instructions supporting this study. The analyzed IBQMI LEA V1_6 manual is not included. Publication status: Research preprint, manuscript version 11.0.