Imagine you’re a kid again, holding a red plastic View-Master in your hands. You pop in a reel, click the lever, and like magic, a new scene appears. Each click gives you a different perspective: Scooby Doo, dinosaurs, the Grand Canyon, space adventures. The magic lies not in the toy itself, but in how it delivers views tailored to your curiosity.

Every solution architect knows that systems aren't the only things with dependencies, people are too. The APIs we integrate are predictable. Stakeholders? Not so much. You're mapping domains, aligning systems to business capabilities, wrestling with legacy constraints, and just when you think you've nailed the architecture, a sponsor with high power and low interest torpedoes your roadmap with a casual "I don't see the value."

It always started the same way: Bold visions, ambitious strategies, and the promise of seamless digital transformation. Yet, within a year, enterprise architecture efforts would crumble into fragmented systems, unchecked technical debt, and a battle between IT and business leaders. The reason? A lack of governance.