I wanted to learn something about TOGAF, and this book is an extended advertisement that promises a lot without mentioning in the least "how", or getting to anything even vaguely substantial.
Should you read on, please keep in mind I am NOT dismayed with TOGAF itself (this book did not provide me with enough information for liking or disliking it), but with the content of this publication. I have informed myself about/ worked with RUP, XP, CMMI, PMBOK, SCRUM and the likes, just to let you know that TOGAF is not going over my head and that I am not suffering from a short attention span either. I am aware, too, that this is a management guide, but I doubt that management will get a lot of guidance out of this fluffy description, and sincerely hope nobody makes a critical decision with knowledge as shallow as provided.
Enough with impressions, here are some facts.
From the quantitative side alone, this thin booklet has 60 small format pages of which 14 contain a glossary explaining exotic terms like "FORTRAN", "GUI", and "Interface". The 2 pages dedicated to "recommended reading" are filled with the mention of 1 (one) single publication.
Of the remaining 44 pages, 20 are dedicated to the history of TOGAF and a declaration that governance and architecture are a good thing to have. I very much agree, but did not need the book for this insight.
Of the remaining 24 pages
o 18 pages explain TOGAF - on a level that barely goes beyond the labels on the diagrams, rife with self-referential explanations, and a wording that is as unclear as it is vague
o 4 pages dedicated to FAQ - six questions, with four pertaining to TOGAF certification
o 2 (two) pages "Shell Oil Case Study" - with deep insights such as "Knowledge is an important asset to Shell", "Enterprise Architecture can be used to support the business process" and "With TOGAF we can be sure that all parties involved speak the same language" (but will they agree on semantics?)
Buy this book if your are an IT outsider, want to get a stratospheric view of TOGAF, and don't want to/ need to get into any details beyond buzzword level.
Don't buy this book if you want to find out what TOGAF actually does/ is/ suggests, how to concretely apply it, and how it compares with other approaches.
Personally, I am disappointed and could have gotten better information from any Google search on "TOGAF", for no cost. From a book, I expect better results then from the Web.
I recommend to rather spend the money on a lunch together with somebody (anybody) who has actually used TOGAF in a project.
