Rating: 
Summary: Not much content
Review: The book is supposed to be for business administration students who don't know anything about computers. The trouble is that is doesn't contain much about business either. It's like the sociology books you get in high school, lots of words and no real content. The Zachman Framework is a BUFD (Big Up Front Design) methodology used by the government, but almost nobody else these days. Private industry dropped it, because it's too cumbersome for the value it delivers - just like this book.
Rating:
Summary: Not for a practitioner
Review: This book is extremely well produced with excellent graphics and an easy (too easy?) to read style. It is very well organized with a reasonable index and a good glossary. But it is not what I was looking for. As an IT professional involved in EA projects and concepts, I hoped for something that would be along the lines of Steven Spewak and Melissa Cook, but more up-to-date and more focussed on the Zachman Framework. In other words, something that would help me with the practice of EA. This book is written as a text book for college, graduate and undergraduate students and does not nearly approach the level that would make it useful to a practitioner. It is based on the Zachman Framework, but uses this framework as an opportunity to spin off in many different directions that may have intellectual interest but little practical application. If you are a student needing a text book, this might be useful. If you are a practitioner looking to learn more, you will probably be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: I want my weekend back
Review: This book packs a magazine article's worth of material in a nearly 700 page book. It is entertaining to read, but the signal-to-noise ratio makes me wish I'd not invested the time to read it.
I learned more about the Zachman Framework just reading the captions on the diagram than I did in the other 698 pages of this book. I know that sounds like a harsh statement, but it's unfortunately true.
O'Rourke et al take small sub-topics and pad them out to dozens of pages, often by saying the same thing in different ways for page after page. An editor could easily cut three quarters of the heft from this book with no loss to the reader. As I said, if I were the book's editor, I'd ask the authors to lose the book altogether and ask them to deliver a magazine article to me.
Granted, I am a practitioner, and as the previous practitioner said, this is much too introductory for me.
HOWEVER: Even if you grant that this book is just an introduction, it's still a poor substitute for a one-page magazine article. If you really want substantive content about enterprise architecture, go to ZIFA.org or other online resources, *not* this book.
Hate to say it, but I genuinely could not recommend this to anyone, period. Not to students. Not to managers. Definitely not practitioners. It's just too slow-paced, repetitious, and light on content. Look elsewhere for a book on enterprise architecture or the Zachman Framework.
Rating: 
Summary: A senior technical manager's view
Review: This book tells it like it is and enables nontechies as well as the practitioner to see how the Zachman framework can be used with today's enterprise strategies. Although designed as a university text, I found this comprehensive book helpful in getting upper management to understand the need to invest in an architecture. The author shows how by using John Zachman's framework we can become more efficient and thorough in our analysis and design. The book shows how the framework can help an organization make better decisions by working through an enterprise solution cell by cell.
This book is a must read for executives, manager, and all IT professionals because it explains that enterprise architecture is a business issue, it addresses all 36 cells of the Zachman framework from both a business and IT perspective, it acknowledges political barriers to progress in an organization, and it demonstrates how various construction techniques can be supported by the framework.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the time and effort
Review: This book, similar to Melissa Cook's book, explains how much of what is needed to build an enterprise information architecture was defined years ago. In this book, the authors site examples that show that in some cases this information was defined thousands of years ago. What is refreshing about this book is the fact that it shows through stories that anything will fail without a plan. The authors' attempt to explain the Zachman Framework through storytelling is a unique approach. The examples show that a strategic plan must come from all levels of the enterprise. This book discusses Zachman framework's architectural views from high-level business to detailed technical views, one chapter at a time. This assists the reader in considering the present state, and then helps the reader discover the urgency of creating the architectural drawing that will provide the future state of the enterprise. The authors explain how this architectural plan will create long term benefits for the enterprise. The book stresses that people, not technology, are what creates a successful organization and shows how the Zachman framework pulls together people and technology. I highly recommend taking the time to read this book if you want to make more effective and efficient use of your information systems.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book; approach Zachman Framework w/caution
Review: This is more of a "What" than a "How" book, and it does clearly [if somewhat verbosely] describe the Zachman Framework. It also provides implementation advice (the "How"), but that information is not as clearly laid out as it is in "Enterprise Architecture Planning" (ISBN 0471599859). I like this book because it is business-focused, and painstakingly describes the Zachman Framework and how it clearly provides a multidimensional view of business-technology alignment. It also reflects the latest thinking with respect to the framework, including Zachman DNA (Depth iNtegrating Architecture), which is missing from "Enterprise Architecture Planning" I cited above. It also contains some unique perspectives that I haven't found in other books, such as how to use the framework outside of IT (Appendix C), and how to map careers to the framework (Appendix D). What is missing from this book, and others like it, is a disclosure of the dark side of the framework if an organization fully commits to it. One such problem is once you've mapped your enterprise architecture to the Zachman Framework's matrix, a change in any cell will cause a ripple effect throughout the matrix. As time goes on this effect becomes a barrier to changes or requires high maintenance to keep the architecture in synch with the business and technology components. This does not diminish the value of the Zachman Framework as a way to view the enterprise, but should forewarn you that implementing it as a principle methodology is a step that should be carefully considered before committing. That said, this book is one I would highly recommend to anyone who is considering the Zachman Framework, or who is seeking an approach to clearly viewing an enterprise from multiple dimensions in order to cut through complexity and see the big picture. I also recommend that you visit the Zachman Institute (see ASIN B00016NEXI) to see the latest work and additional information.
Rating: 
Summary: Verbose introduction to subject but lacks depth
Review: This is more of a "What" than a "How" book, and it does clearly [if somewhat verbosely] describe the Zachman Framework. It also provides implementation advice (the "How"), but that information is not as clearly laid out as it is in "Enterprise Architecture Planning" (ISBN 0471599859). I like this book because it is business-focused, and painstakingly describes the Zachman Framework and how it clearly provides a multidimensional view of business-technology alignment. It also reflects the latest thinking with respect to the framework, including Zachman DNA (Depth iNtegrating Architecture), which is missing from "Enterprise Architecture Planning" I cited above. It also contains some unique perspectives that I haven't found in other books, such as how to use the framework outside of IT (Appendix C), and how to map careers to the framework (Appendix D). What is missing from this book, and others like it, is a disclosure of the dark side of the framework if an organization fully commits to it. One such problem is once you've mapped your enterprise architecture to the Zachman Framework's matrix, a change in any cell will cause a ripple effect throughout the matrix. As time goes on this effect becomes a barrier to changes or requires high maintenance to keep the architecture in synch with the business and technology components. This does not diminish the value of the Zachman Framework as a way to view the enterprise, but should forewarn you that implementing it as a principle methodology is a step that should be carefully considered before committing. That said, this book is one I would highly recommend to anyone who is considering the Zachman Framework, or who is seeking an approach to clearly viewing an enterprise from multiple dimensions in order to cut through complexity and see the big picture. I also recommend that you visit the Zachman Institute (see ASIN B00016NEXI) to see the latest work and additional information.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book; approach Zachman Framework w/caution
Review: This is more of a "What" than a "How" book, and it does clearly [if somewhat verbosely] describe the Zachman Framework. It also provides implementation advice (the "How"), but that information is not as clearly laid out as it is in "Enterprise Architecture Planning" (ISBN 0471599859). I like this book because it is business-focused, and painstakingly describes the Zachman Framework and how it clearly provides a multidimensional view of business-technology alignment. It also reflects the latest thinking with respect to the framework, including Zachman DNA (Depth iNtegrating Architecture), which is missing from "Enterprise Architecture Planning" I cited above. It also contains some unique perspectives that I haven't found in other books, such as how to use the framework outside of IT (Appendix C), and how to map careers to the framework (Appendix D). What is missing from this book, and others like it, is a disclosure of the dark side of the framework if an organization fully commits to it. One such problem is once you've mapped your enterprise architecture to the Zachman Framework's matrix, a change in any cell will cause a ripple effect throughout the matrix. As time goes on this effect becomes a barrier to changes or requires high maintenance to keep the architecture in synch with the business and technology components. This does not diminish the value of the Zachman Framework as a way to view the enterprise, but should forewarn you that implementing it as a principle methodology is a step that should be carefully considered before committing. That said, this book is one I would highly recommend to anyone who is considering the Zachman Framework, or who is seeking an approach to clearly viewing an enterprise from multiple dimensions in order to cut through complexity and see the big picture. I also recommend that you visit the Zachman Institute (see ASIN B00016NEXI) to see the latest work and additional information.
Rating:
Summary: Tries to do too much...and often not well
Review: While well-written and clear, too much of this book is spent on ancillary topics (like world history and how to play office politics) and not enough on enterprise and systems architecture techniques. I was also quite surprised and disappointed at the authors' naive approach to project maangement, which goes hand-in-hand with enterprise and architecture efforts. Either the interface of PM to EA should be expanded, or not mentioned at all. In total, a disappointment...
Rating:
Summary: Read it!!
Review: You will learn how to create value for your organization by systematically recording assets, processes, connectivity, people, timing, and motivation, through a simple framework. What's more, you will create a model that can grow and change as fast as the market evolves. Face it, we know we've got to start somewhere no matter what that first model is. This book gives you solid information to convince the right people to make that investment. My company started when we closed one plant and had to restructure with fewer employees. All of a sudden we were faced with the reality that alot of information went out the door with the people who got laid off. One of our employees handed me an article by John Zachman called "Conceptual, Logical, Physical",and also recommended this book that he had used in an introductory management information course. This book will make you look at your tasks and your people differently. We're reworking some of our systems now, but this time, we're building the models as we go along--one step at a time. This book will help you see how to map any attribute or problem to the Zachman Framework, and you can use whatever methodology to do it.
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