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One+AbstractIs IT architecture about the “hidden bits of plumbing”, or should it focus on the “visible design” delivered to users, developers and other stakeholders? Read this paper, and consider your view.
Category Archives: Agile & Architecture
Architects Anonymous
27 June 2004 - Please share: 
Is Architecture an Addiction?
This rather tongue in cheek piece was inspired by a “group therapy” session at the IRM/Meta group Enterprise Architecture Conference 2004.
Review: Modeling XML Applications with UML
Practical e-Business Applications, By David Carlson
3 April 2004 - Please share:
An excellent book covering an important niche
Like many web-related technologies XML and its many derivatives have evolved much more quickly than the support from traditional modelling and development tools. As a result many developers creating XML-based applications are doing so with the crudest of tools, and find it very difficult to either exchange ideas with more traditional developers, or to benefit from the strengths of more powerful tools and modelling approaches. This book sets out to address that issue, and it does an excellent job.
At the same time, the book provides a valuable introduction to a range of XML and e-Business technologies for those more familiar with traditional approaches. I found it answered a lot of questions I had about XML which had not been addressed by reading more typical “how to” books, so this book bridges the divide both ways. Read the full review 
Categories: Agile & Architecture and Reviews. Content Types: Book, Modelling & Analysis, and Programming & Development.
Posted in Agile & Architecture, Reviews
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Modelling an Enterprise Data Architecture
6 December 2003 - Please share:
Unlike the simplistic models in books and training courses, a real enterprise has a very complicated data architecture. Most of the data will be held in large legacy or package systems, for which the details of data structure may be unknown. Other data will be held in spreadsheets and personal databases (such as
Microsoft Access), and may be invisible to the IT department or senior business data administrators. Some key data may reside in external systems maintained by service providers or business partners. To manage this you need powerful, simple, but effective models of the data structure from an enterprise viewpoint
— a set of models known as the “Enterprise Data Architecture.”
This article, co-written by Richard Wiggins and originally published in the Rational Edge in February 2003 describes a new approach, based on UML, which meets the real requirements of modelling the Enterprise Data Architecture.
Posted in Agile & Architecture, My Publications, Thoughts on the World
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Combining Risk Factors
25 September 2003 - Please share:
In “Waltzing with Bears” Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister introduce the very useful concept of the “Uncertainty Diagram”, the probability distribution for project metrics such as delivery date, expenditure or benefit delivery. This is used, for example, to assess the likelihood of delay from a given risk.
However, they rely entirely on Monte-Carlo simulation. I believe that where the curve is defined by, or can be approximated by, a few discrete points, a relatively simple analytical solution can then be used in place of simulation.
Modelling Change in Enterprise IT
15 August 2003 - Please share:
One of the big problems in a strategic or “enterprise architecture” view of IT is how to model the change in an enterprise’s IT portfolio over time. Most established modeling techniques deal with an essentially static view of the system landscape, supplemented by some modelling of the dynamics within systems. These are very poor tools if you are trying to understand how the complete set of systems, technologies and capabilities change over time. This item discusses two simple techniques which address this problem.
A Square Peg, and Only Round Holes
9 July 2003 - Please share:
Musings on whether an architect can fit neatly anywhere in a traditional IT organisation hierarchy.
The Changing Role of An IT Architect
9 July 2003 - Please share:
An IT architect (for want of a generic term which isn’t already terribly overloaded) takes on many different roles over time. This article discusses some of those roles, and introduces a model for the different architectural interventions in a typical project life-cycle.
Characteristics of a Software Architect
9 July 2003 - Please share:
My musings on what makes a good software architect.
Technical Reference Architecture
7 June 2003 - Please share:
“Technical Reference Architecture for Component Based Development and Enterprise Application Integration” by Tim Barrett of ComCor IT Solutions BV is an excellent summary of the characteristics of a strong, flexible, layered and component-based architecture, and the different classes which comprise one. (Adobe Acrobat Format)
Posted in Agile & Architecture
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The Tao of the Architect
2 March 2003 - Please share:
Philippe Kruchten of Rational has taken the Tao of Lao-Tsu, and created a modern translation focussed on the values and attitudes which an architect should adopt. He says many things which are also said on this site, but much more beautifully.
Articles on Agile Modeling and Architecture
2 March 2003 - Please share:
Here’s a list of useful articles by Scott Ambler on either the Agile Modeling or Agile Data web sites. A lot of that material is relevant, but I’ve picked out a few articles which are most relevant to the Agile Architect:
Posted in Agile & Architecture
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