Economists are debating the length and depth of the economic impact of the credit crunch and the October market meltdown. What can enterprise architects do to survive or — dare we think it — excel during an economic downturn? Enterprise architects must treat the economic environment as a new high-priority business driver and revisit enterprise architecture (EA) goals and plans, evaluating the likely scenarios and determining how EA can best provide value. Even if you refreshed your EA agenda earlier this year, you may need to either tweak your EA plans or abandon them wholesale and start anew. Forrester offers five strategies to help enterprise architects through a worsening economy.