The construction metaphor is familiar to people who have had experience with enterprise IT initiatives. Technical specialists (a.k.a. “IT”) are experts in their field – they can create or configure an IT system – as long as they get detailed technical requirements. People outside IT (a.k.a. “The Business”) are also specialists in their respective fields, e.g. accounting or sales – they are not trained to express what they need as detailed requirements.
Since communication problems are bound to occur we need someone in the middle translating for each side and facilitating communication. That is what the bridge metaphor is trying to convey. But it’s not as simple as it sounds. Bridge builders know you can’t build a bridge just anywhere. To have a bridge you need solid ground on both shores. It’s as true for IT projects as it is for crossing water.
Peter Lefterov gives us a valuable insight into the three sections of the bridge and how they combine to create the full solution
The three parts of the bridge.