Enterprise Architecture: The Struggle is Real
Posts
Stakeholder Wrangling 101: Dealing with the "Too Many Cooks" Syndrome

Stakeholder Wrangling 101: Dealing with the "Too Many Cooks" Syndrome

Ralph Webster
August 08, 2025

Greetings, architects of chaos and consensus!
This week, we’re diving headfirst into the kitchen where your architecture decisions get sautéed, boiled, and occasionally deep-fried — welcome to the Too Many Cooks Syndrome.

The Main Story: Kitchen Confidential, EA Edition

Picture it: you’ve finally got the perfect architecture design ready. The diagrams are crisp, the roadmap is realistic (by EA standards), and the governance team actually nodded in agreement.
Then the stakeholder tasting session begins:

Marketing adds “a pinch of innovation” (read: a metaverse integration no one asked for).
Security sprinkles on “non-negotiable” encryption that doubles your budget.
Operations insists on swapping half the tech stack for “tools they already know.”
And the CEO? “Make it like Apple, but cheaper. And faster. And yesterday.”

By the end, your once Michelin-worthy architecture looks like a buffet plate from a corporate offsite — overloaded, mismatched, and somehow featuring three types of salad nobody eats.

TOGAF to the Rescue (with a Side of Sarcasm)

TOGAF’s Stakeholder Management technique exists for exactly this moment — not to stop the cooks, but to hand them each a laminated menu.
With the Architecture Stakeholder Map, you can:

Identify who’s the head chef vs. who’s just tasting the soup.
Prioritize input based on actual influence (not decibel level).
Set clear “kitchen rules” so changes don’t sneak in like unsolicited garnish.

Remember: TOGAF doesn’t remove cooks from the kitchen — it just keeps them from all stirring at once.

Educational Twist: Stakeholder Wrangling Tips

Map before you meet: Know your influencers, blockers, and wildcards.
Define “must-have” vs. “nice-to-have” early.
Document agreements before they turn into folklore.

Humor in Diagrams

Got your own “too many cooks” disaster story? Send it in — bonus points if the final solution looked nothing like the initial proposal.

Next Week’s Tease

The Policy Police — how governance enforcers keep order (and occasionally, hostages).