New architects often have a theoretical understanding of what an architecture should be, but are often left struggling with the level of detail required in their designs, frequently mixing physical solution with concepts. This frustrates stakeholders who are beginning to get their own visions of the solution. A few weeks later, and the purpose of the architect and his/her architecture is lost as the solution is being defined by everyone but the architect. It's not on purpose!
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Project managers, business analysts, and architects are well-established as the key leadership roles for most IT projects. However, uncertainty of project goals can produce tensions among these key team roles, leading to poor results and missed goals – blending the right mix of disciplines to match the project's goals can improve the chances of success, avoiding tension over roles-based turf.
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IT may be good at operating a good service to business, but is particularly bad at doing the very thing that gave IT such great success … innovation. There may be no IT / Business gap, but things could be better, highlighted by some compelling research.
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I attended a vendor conference yesterday and the topic was ‘Watch the Gap’, where several invited speakers and the hosts went through the familiar ritual of donning sackcloth and wailing about the growing gap between Business and IT. But I wondered what’s the gap? In fact, what’s this thing called the Business that is so much at odds with IT?
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Compliance at the project level is essential for enterprise architecture success. Without compliance, investment in enterprise architecture design will be wasted as it fails to gain traction at the level where it really matters. Therefore, since compliance in any context is rarely an outcome of random decision-making, some form of governance is required to help encourage the right behaviours and decisions, even where there’s no brazen defiance of the enterprise architecture guidelines.
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Solution Architecture has a reputation for producing output that is largely engineered for function, often lacking a creative flair that would produce an aesthetically pleasing outcome. Does this mean that architecture is a balancing act? If so, what are the polarities that need to be balanced?
Continue reading “Common failures of solution architecture” »
It doesn’t take an architect to marvel at architectural wonders, such as the Sistine Chapel – the genius and creativity combined with constructive energy and skill are instantly recognisable. Similarly for technology architecture, when we experience a well-designed IT system we can feel it through all our sense. But what is the essence that separates good architecture from bad?
Continue reading “The qualities of architecture” »