Strategy

I walk into the meeting room noticing as I do, that as often is the case when I do an enterprise architecture assessment, I am the only one in a jacket. Oh, I don't care what anyone wears, but I note the team taking me in and weighing my motives, skills and capabilities, all of

As the juggernaut of IoT and Cognitive Computing continues it is becoming evident that we will need a much more robust Identity solution than the ones we currently have. A large part of this is due to the fact that systems are more and more interacting with each other and invoking actions on behalf of

Architects strive to show value while asking themselves, “What is an architecture?” The notion that an architecture is a model or a view or a strategic plan or a document is the most common understanding of what an architect does at work. We create ‘architectures’ of course. But in reality, while a deliverable is important

The importance of risk management to the practicing architect. The development of a deeply ingrained body of capabilities may be the only thing standing between your team and failure.

Not all technical debt should be treated equally By Alexander von Zitzewitz Abstract: “Shipping first time code is like going into debt. A little debt speeds development so long as it is paid back promptly with a rewrite… The danger occurs when the debt is not repaid. Every minute spent on not-quite-right code counts as

By:  Mike Vincent Personalization This morning I’m meeting with Bob Kelly, our marketing director, and David Campbell, a new software architect on our team, to review progress on a web improvement project for expanding accessory sales in our increasingly competitive market place. Adventure Works is the nation’s second largest bicycle internet and retail company. Bob

By Gene Hughson YAGNI: You Ain't Gonna Need It. Sound bites are great - short, sweet, clear, and simple. Just like real life, right? Seductive simple certainty is what makes slogans so problematic. Uncertainty and ambiguity occur far more frequently in the real world. Context and nuance add complexity, but not all complexity can be

Our very own Paul Preiss, sits down for an in-depth interview with Gabriel Morgan the Director of Enterprise Architect and Strategic Planning at REI. Paul Preiss: The thing I'd like to focus on today, Gabriel, is your role and vision as a Director of Enterprise Architect and Strategic Planning at REI, with that being such

By Yan Zhao, Ph.D I was hired many years ago as a corporate level principal architect. The first assignment I got was to describe the architecture of an existing software system product inherited from a company acquisition. The original people who created the system had left the company. There were no architecture or design documents; no

By Gene Hughson Technical skills are important for a software architect; I think few would argue with that.  However, technical skill alone is far from sufficient.  Soft skills, particularly those necessary for crafting compromises that reconcile competing viewpoints, are critical. Jef Claes is a Belgian software engineer who typically blogs about coding and Domain Driven Design.