Architecture

Application Portfolio Management (APM) draws inspiration from financial portfolio management, which has been around since at least the 1970s. By looking at all applications and services in the organization and analyzing their costs and benefits, you can determine the most effective way to manage them as part of a larger overall strategy. This allows the architect or engineering leader to take a more strategic approach to managing their application portfolio backed by data....

All healthy technology discussions should begin with business goals and use those goals as a reasonable set of guidelines to focus technology investment decisions. These business goals are best articulated from a deep understanding of what the company, the product team, or the marketing team want to accomplish. In a business-first model, technology is forced to balance the desires for technical effectiveness and efficiency with the operational needs of the business....

Microservices have become part of the software engineering cultural zeitgeist to the extent that alternative approaches to architecture and development are treated as somehow inferior. Given the challenges that running microservices present, I usually recommend beginning development of new projects and systems as a single deployable unit — the monolith. Sam Newman, in the book “Building Microservices”, agrees with this approach. He recommends leveraging microservices only if you can become convinced of the benefits for your system, not as a default for every project....

Leading software companies have discovered that developing capable technology is not enough to guarantee long-term success. To stay relevant, software leaders need to develop and support the repeatable systems necessary to develop and sustain knowledge and expertise. Many organizations have taken inspiration from Spotify’s culture and adopted the concept of a guild or community of practice to connect engineers throughout the organization and steer them towards common goals. As organizations adopt this model, what is often missing is a clear understanding of the purpose of communities of practice and a repeatable process for developing the communities to their fullest potential....

After graduating from university my (future) wife and I travelled and worked in Kenya as part of the Commonwealth of Learning — an intergovernmental agency dedicated to open learning and distance education. As fortune would have it, my brother had an internship in the neighbouring country of Tanzania during the same time period, and we were able to meet for a few days to enjoy the East African coast in the city of Mombasa....

Large organizations have a lot of layers. From the C-Suite that is concerned about strategy and vision, to middle management who are executing on projects and programs, down to individual contributors working on project features. These layers provide a number of advantages, all derived from being able to better manage complexity. For example, layers provide a nice separation of concerns: as a software engineer, I don’t have to worry about tax codes and payroll because the finance department can take care of this....

Inspiration for software architecture often comes from the world of building architecture. In building architecture, the architect takes in local building codes to understand construction requirements. They analyze various building components like ductwork and furnaces, windows and doors, and figure out where and when to use standard components and when to build custom. They provide cost estimates for each of the components and for the whole, and then build out a blueprint providing upfront design and specification....

I recently had the pleasure of being part of the Tied to Machines podcast. We talked about the role of architecture, architectural leadership, and the intersection between architecture and business. You can listen to the full episode here.

Software is core to the operation of our business, and as architects, we are the key conduit between business and technology. Being technical leaders within this intertwined relationship means that we have a responsiblity to make sure that our business decisions and our technology decisions stay aligned. Being in this position demands leadership skills that are equal or better than our technical skills, so that we can effectively align business strategy with technical strategy, communicate that strategy to teams, motivate both teams and individuals, and influence outcomes....

One of the many paradoxes of human creativity is that it seems to benefit from constraints. Although we [perceive] the imagination as requiring total freedom, the reality of the creative process is that it’s often entangled with strict conventions and formal requirements. Pop songs have choruses and refrains; symphonies have four movements; plays have five acts; painters still rely on the tropes of portraiture. Jonah Lehrer Constraints can seem like the last thing you’d want for a creative project, but they’re actually beneficial when it comes to doing good work....