“TOGAF is of value to everyone who deals with IT and organizational design. In addition to the obvious roles as an architect, I think that people who are involved in organizational transformation can also benefit from this.”
.. his motivation to follow the TOGAF® training
Christian works for the Global Competency Center of Software AG. “We are an international team of highly experienced consultants and architects who support the Sales and Consulting organizations in carrying out presales and projects. We are responsible for developing and maintaining the methodologies within Software AG, performing audits and reviews and extinguishing fires where needed.”
Because Christian considers the communication of information to customers and colleagues to be important, he has been looking for new techniques and means to do this properly for a long time. He moves a lot between technology and business, so he was looking for a framework that fitted both sides: TOGAF proved to be a good example of this.
About his choice for The Unit Company Christian says: “After some research into providers of this training, The Unit quickly stood out in terms of presentation and explanation with regard to the content of the training.”
.. his participation in the TOGAF® classroom training of The Unit Company
After participating in the training Christian was very impressed with the quality of the content and execution of the training. “The training went very smoothly. The extensive practical experience of the trainer certainly contributed to this. The examples were well put into context and discussed.” In addition, Christian describes the training as informal in a pleasant way and indicates that there was enough room for questions and digressions. Although there was a great diversity of attendees, Christian said everyone could come along well: “The training was clear in terms of learning material and was given at a good pace. The high success rate of an average of 90% on the two exams testifies to this.” The most important learning point of the training was for Christian to understand how the framework works. “In previous conversations with customers who used TOGAF to model their internal organization and enterprise architecture, it was sometimes not clear how the different models interacted and influenced each other. I gained this knowledge during the training.”
“The training was clear in terms of learning material and was given at a good pace. The high success rate of an average of 90% in the two exams testifies to this.”
.. the preparation for and participation in the TOGAF® exams
When making the exams, going through the practice exams during the training and discussing how the exams are put together in terms of questions came in handy: “The exams were therefore easy to do. Furthermore, the questions of The Open Group are very logical.”
Besides the fact that the exams went well, Christian says that the organization of the exams was well taken care of by The Unit. “The quality of the training did not only apply to the days in the classroom, but also to the facilitation of things around it, such as the registration for the exams. In addition, I received a motivating SMS message when I walked into Prometric to take the exam.”
.. the application of TOGAF® in practice
“As with driving, you will apply the basic knowledge on a daily basis after the exam, but you will soon see that a number of things may not be in accordance with the rules, but can be done more easily and efficiently,” says Christian about the use of TOGAF in practice. He says it was good that the training was very pragmatic. A lot of emphasis was placed on the differences between what TOGAF prescribes as a framework and how it is applied in reality. Christian notes that the training has provided a valuable addition to his daily skills set: “After the training, things have to sink in. Now, a few weeks later, I notice that certain details are fading, but that the framework and the most practical techniques now fall under the ready knowledge. I also notice that I can apply the models and diagrams to other work situations.” When asked about which part of the training he puts into practice the most, he says: “I think that in my case, Stakeholder Management is used the most. This fits in with every project execution and quickly shows a profit. I also notice that I deal with requirements differently because of the way in which TOGAF has put Requirements Management in place.”
“The training went very smoothly. The trainer’s extensive practical experience certainly contributed to this. The examples were well put into context and discussed.”
.. who he would recommend for a TOGAF® training course
“TOGAF is of value to everyone who deals with IT and organizational design. In addition to the obvious roles as Enterprise Architect, I certainly see value for other Architect roles. In addition, I think that people involved in organizational transformation can benefit from this as well.” Christian has already set his sights on the next architecture training course: “ArchiMate is something that is on my wish list. Of course, the necessary time and budget must be made available for this, but I think that this is a very valuable addition for people who do TOGAF.”
We thank Christian Schuit for his participation in our accredited TOGAF®9 training and the interview!
