A practitioner's handbook for implementing EA governance that earns adoption from both engineering teams and executive stakeholders.
Most Architecture Review Boards slow delivery without improving quality. They become toll gates: approval queues where decisions are made by people too far from the code to understand the trade-offs. The result is either rubber-stamping or adversarial friction.
This handbook documents the governance model we've implemented across six large enterprises — financial services, energy, and public sector — where EA governance measurably improved delivery speed by reducing late-stage rework.
Author: CELESDEV Solutions — Enterprise Architecture Practice.
Applicable contexts: Enterprises with 5+ delivery teams; regulated industries (financial services, insurance, public sector); organisations post-merger managing heterogeneous technology portfolios.
Full document includes ARB charter templates, TOGAF ADM iteration model, MEGA HOPEX metamodel configuration guide, and fitness function library for common architecture concerns.
| TRIGGER | ENGAGEMENT TYPE | CADENCE |
|---|---|---|
| New system design | Design partnership session at inception | Once per initiative |
| Significant change | ADR review + impact assessment | As needed |
| Architectural exception | Formal review + risk acceptance | Escalation path |
| Routine decisions | Fitness function pass in CI/CD | Every deployment |
| Landscape review | Tech radar update + ADR audit | Quarterly |
ARB composition: Lead Architect (chair), two senior engineers from delivery, one security representative, one platform representative. External membership rotates quarterly. Quorum requires three members. The ARB does not vote - it advises and the delivery team decides.