Architecture as a Service: Requisite Variety & the Bigger Picture

On the left is a traditional layered view of how the different architectural views interact. <br/>The right-hand side extends the standard "service view" to represent the complex environment the business architecture exists in.<br/>The idea of variety is adapted from Ashby's "Law of Requisite Variety" and the idea here is to amplify internal "variety" (at all levels, e.g. the Modeling Function, the wider Architecture Function, the services supplied, and the Business as a whole) so as to better meet or absorb that external complexity.<br/>Perhaps the key question for Modellers is: Does the model meet your users' actual needs and goals and are the services provided sufficient or fit-for-purpose? These questyions are encapsulated in the Modeling Principles.<br/>