Blockchain Buzzword Bingo: Is It Real, or Just Another Governance Nightmare?

Greetings, architects of uncertainty!
Welcome to Episode 40 of EA Struggles: The Newsletter for Architects Who Survive by Humor (and TOGAF).

This week, we dive into the shimmering, decentralized, jargon-laden wonderland of blockchain — where every meeting starts with “trustless” and ends with “we’ll circle back when Legal approves.”

The Main Story: When Buzzwords Meet Governance

It started innocently enough: the CIO returned from a tech conference armed with enthusiasm, slides full of hexagons, and a mysterious conviction that blockchain could “solve our audit trail issues.”

Within days, an Innovation Task Force was born — complete with vision statements, post-it hierarchies, and a whiteboard that looked like Da Vinci’s notebook after a caffeine overdose.

Suddenly, everything was “on the chain”:

• The procurement workflow

• The coffee machine refill log

• And somehow, HR performance reviews (still “pending consensus”)

Meanwhile, the Enterprise Architect (you) is caught between governance chaos and buzzword inflation. Every architecture review board meeting now feels like playing Blockchain Buzzword Bingo:

• ✅ “Immutable ledger”

• ✅ “Smart contracts”

• ✅ “Decentralized trust model”

• ✅ “Disruptive paradigm”

• 🏆 Bingo! You win… another six-month proof of concept.

TOGAF to the Rescue (Sort Of)

Enter TOGAF, the voice of reason in a room full of blockchain zealots.
It gently reminds you that technology should serve capabilities, not headlines.

Before you chain your enterprise to the next shiny idea, TOGAF suggests:

1. Revisit the Architecture Vision. Does blockchain actually solve a business problem, or just sound good on PowerPoint?

2. Perform Impact Analysis. Because “distributed” systems often mean “distributed blame.”

3. Governance, not Guesswork. Use the Architecture Board to prevent your data from becoming a cryptographic Bermuda Triangle.

Educational Twist: Practical EA Tips

• Start with business value, not tech fascination.
  A shared spreadsheet with proper access control can outperform a badly designed blockchain.

• Use TOGAF’s ADM Phases B–E to evaluate feasibility before pilot launches.

• Treat “trustless” claims with suspicion. In enterprises, trust is a governance layer, not an algorithm.

Humor in Diagrams

Share and Connect

Ever survived a blockchain pilot that became a governance Hydra?
Share your scars (and lessons) with us — bonus points if it involves a “disruptive” coffee machine.

Next Week’s Tease

The ADM: The Never-Ending Cycle — because every iteration feels suspiciously like déjà vu.