If you apply the rules of (business) architecture in management you will be able to build a coherent business.

Have you ever seen a church with a roof vault somewhere in the middle? If you walk in a library you see books. Easy. The main function of a library is to present books and other communicating material in a way that it is accessible for the public. A retailer has borrowed this concept, but the library was there first.

Architects have thought about this. They now about functions, they develop (design?), a matching form or construction and – although you may not like the style – the whole will normally be inline. Is your business Aligned?

There are also many problems with buildings designed by architects, because they will not always match the environmental characteristics.

As an entrepreneur you are your own architect. As a business manager you are much more dependent of the form (construction) chosen by others. Anyhow it is still your job to signal where a business is no longer sound. Where there are too many organizational style flavors that do not match internally.

It is not difficult to experience this. Maybe the stock market will help you. You gather a portfolio of investment instruments (resources) and they are balanced at some point in time. You will always have stock that are underperformers. That is not the problem. The problem is that at one point in time you choose, to buy and hold, the other time you are day-trading, and the next moment you let third parties advice about your portfolio. And as a consequence, you sell at the worst moment in time.

Business architecture is about being aware that the whole is more than the sum of the individual parts. If you think that there is a point in this, but you wouldn’t know where to start, ask a consultant that is experiences with this topic.

Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days. You can apply for a free demo account

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