Soft skills and EA

Interesting short article on how/where “Architecture” fits within the business space.
http://www.architecting-the-enterprise.com/blog/2011/11/using-soft-skills-to-promote-architecture-to-the-business/
Scenario below is so common:

“Many Architects find themselves having little influence at the preliminary or vision phases of projects and are often brought into the development at a later stage; usually by the PMO. Unsurprisingly, the point of influence is weakened by this time as many of the key decisions have already been made and the Architect is left to play catch-up and may sometimes be viewed as a barrier by the Project Manager whose prime concern is timely delivery.”

And the statement:

“Most business leaders are concerned with only a small number of factors; usually:  Risk, cost, time and return on investment, not necessarily in that order – are usually at the top concerns.”

Is also very accurate although I wish that return on investment becomes bigger priority then what I have seen in the past. Often business will choose cost, time over return on investment.