In Extensibility Points, Gregor Hohpe describes architecture as a guessing game, trying to understand future changes to a business, and designing a system to cater for those changes. He’s written a good article on types of extensibility and where they can be applied.

But Gergor’s article doesn’t really touch on understanding the dynamics of business change, and how these should dictate the form of architectural extensibility. Neither does he discuss the problem of being an architect who understands what flexibility is required, but being unable to get either the customers, or the suppliers, to agree. I seem to spend a lot of my time saying “I told you so” when a problem I predicted occurs – this is frustrating, even if I’m being proven right.

If you want to understand more about the dynamics of change, you might look at my previous postings on the subject:

Architects – Masters of Order and Unorder

Business Flexibility

Strategies for Flexibility