Process

Note This is the first article in a series of articles I intend to write that describe my interpretation and understanding of the practice of architecture in large software projects. I intend to write about the following topics in this series: Architects are Gardeners. (This article) What, more specifically IS software architecture? What do Architects or architects do? How can we build sustainable practices of architecture that in turn build sustainable architectures?...

Recently, I wrote my very first technology strategy. Overall I’d say the process went pretty well. Of course writing the strategy is intimidating to begin with, but once I started I quickly realised that the much more intimidating thing is actually working to implement the strategy after it’s written. I felt and still at times feel like fleeing to the woods to live as a wolf as a result of this realisation but I’m pretty sure my life insurance has exclusions for fleeing to the woods in order to live as a wolf....

What if the role of the software developer is not actually about writing software? What if the most important thing I can do today isn’t to write a sweet recursive function that delights and confuses the next human that reads it in equal measure? As our industry has matured, the roles of technical staff in an organisation have changed. Increasingly, companies require that technical folk interact with customers. Some people like this....

What do when you don’t know what to do? Even worse: What do you do when people are paying you to do things, and expect you to do things, but you don’t know what to do? Are you in a brand new domain? A brand new type of business or a completely new role? What about if you’re in a completely new industry? Having just started a new role, the pressure to deliver and deliver quickly can be quite daunting....