Contribution 5 - Revision history

Rstafford: /* Architecting is About Balancing... */

2008-06-20T03:31:51Z

Architecting is About Balancing...

←Older revision		Revision as of 03:31, 20 June 2008
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	== Architecting is About Balancing... ==		== Architecting is About Balancing... ==

-	''(~~note:~~ the ~~current revision~~ of this ~~page~~, ~~and~~ the ~~following text~~, is ~~serving~~ as a ~~placeholder~~, to ~~be further elaborated very soon~~)''	+	When we think of architecting software, we tend to think first of classical technical activities, like modularizing systems, defining interfaces, allocating responsibility, applying patterns, and optimizing performance.
		+
		+	Experienced architects understand that there exists a realm beyond these classical activities, as finally elaborated by Luke Hohmann in his groundbreaking book <u>Beyond Software Architecture</u> [Hohmann BSA], consisting of additional issues that must be resolved in order to create a winning business solution.
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		+	These additional issues, which can also be considered architectural in nature, include security, usability, supportability, release management, and deployment options, among others, and reveal certain interests of the stakeholders in the software being developed.
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		+	Taking such a “stakeholders and interests” approach in requirements analysis (as described by Alistair Cockburn in his brilliant book <u>Writing Effective Use Cases</u> [Cockburn WEUC]) is an excellent way to ensure completeness of requirements specifications for the software being developed.
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		+	But, more broadly, analyzing the stakeholders, and their interests, in the process by which an organization develops software, and in the organization itself, reveals the ultimate set of priorities bearing on a software architect. Software architecting is about balancing this set of priorities, over the short and long term, in a way that is appropriate to the context at hand.
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		+	Consider, for example, the engineering department of a software-as-a-service business. The business likely has certain priorities, such as meeting contractual obligations, generating revenue, ensuring customer referenceability, containing costs, and creating valuable technology assets. These business priorities may translate to departmental priorities like ensuring the functionality and correctness, and “quality attributes” (i.e. “-ilities”) of the software being developed, as well as ensuring the productivity of the development team, ensuring the sustainability and auditability of development operations, and ensuring the adaptability and longevity of the software products.
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		+	It is the architect’s job to not only create functional, quality software for users, but also to do so while balancing the other departmental priorities, with the cost containment interests of the business’s CEO, with the ease-of-administration interests of the operations staff, with the ease-of-learning and ease-of-maintenance interests of future programming staff, and with best practices of the software architect’s profession.
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		+	The architect may choose to consciously tilt the balance in favor of one priority in the short term, but had better maintain a proper balance over the long term in order to truly do the job well. And the balance that is struck needs to be appropriate to the context at hand, considering factors such as the expected lifespan of the software, the criticality of the software to the business, and the technological and financial culture of the organization.
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		+	In summary, software architecting is about more than just the classical technical activities; it is about balancing a broad set of potentially conflicting priorities, sometimes trading off desired advances in one direction for necessary achievements in another direction.

-	Architecting is about much more than just the technical aspects (of modularizing systems, applying patterns, optimizing performance, etc.); architecting is about balancing the needs of all the stakeholders in a system, from users to CEOs to operations personnel to future programming staff, over the short and long term, in the way that is appropriate to the context at hand.

	By [[Randy.stafford\|Randy Stafford]]		By [[Randy.stafford\|Randy Stafford]]
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	This work is licensed under a		This work is licensed under a
	[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/ Creative Commons Attribution 3]		[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/ Creative Commons Attribution 3]
		+

	Back to [[97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know]] home page		Back to [[97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know]] home page

Rstafford at 16:02, 16 June 2008

2008-06-16T16:02:50Z

←Older revision		Revision as of 16:02, 16 June 2008
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	Architecting is about much more than just the technical aspects (of modularizing systems, applying patterns, optimizing performance, etc.); architecting is about balancing the needs of all the stakeholders in a system, from users to CEOs to operations personnel to future programming staff, over the short and long term, in the way that is appropriate to the context at hand.		Architecting is about much more than just the technical aspects (of modularizing systems, applying patterns, optimizing performance, etc.); architecting is about balancing the needs of all the stakeholders in a system, from users to CEOs to operations personnel to future programming staff, over the short and long term, in the way that is appropriate to the context at hand.

-	By [[~~User:~~Randy.stafford\|Randy Stafford]]	+	By [[Randy.stafford\|Randy Stafford]]

	This work is licensed under a		This work is licensed under a

Randy.stafford at 01:08, 14 May 2008

2008-05-14T01:08:54Z

←Older revision		Revision as of 01:08, 14 May 2008
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-	== ~~Contribution 5:~~ Architecting is About Balancing... ==	+	== Architecting is About Balancing... ==

	''(note: the current revision of this page, and the following text, is serving as a placeholder, to be further elaborated very soon)''		''(note: the current revision of this page, and the following text, is serving as a placeholder, to be further elaborated very soon)''
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	Architecting is about much more than just the technical aspects (of modularizing systems, applying patterns, optimizing performance, etc.); architecting is about balancing the needs of all the stakeholders in a system, from users to CEOs to operations personnel to future programming staff, over the short and long term, in the way that is appropriate to the context at hand.		Architecting is about much more than just the technical aspects (of modularizing systems, applying patterns, optimizing performance, etc.); architecting is about balancing the needs of all the stakeholders in a system, from users to CEOs to operations personnel to future programming staff, over the short and long term, in the way that is appropriate to the context at hand.

-	By [[User:Randy.stafford\|Randy Stafford]] ~~- this~~ work is licensed under [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/ Creative Commons Attribution 3]	+	By [[User:Randy.stafford\|Randy Stafford]]
		+
		+	This work is licensed under a
		+	[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/ Creative Commons Attribution 3]

	Back to [[97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know]] home page		Back to [[97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know]] home page

Randy.stafford at 00:58, 14 May 2008

2008-05-14T00:58:00Z

←Older revision		Revision as of 00:58, 14 May 2008
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	Architecting is about much more than just the technical aspects (of modularizing systems, applying patterns, optimizing performance, etc.); architecting is about balancing the needs of all the stakeholders in a system, from users to CEOs to operations personnel to future programming staff, over the short and long term, in the way that is appropriate to the context at hand.		Architecting is about much more than just the technical aspects (of modularizing systems, applying patterns, optimizing performance, etc.); architecting is about balancing the needs of all the stakeholders in a system, from users to CEOs to operations personnel to future programming staff, over the short and long term, in the way that is appropriate to the context at hand.

-	--[[User:Randy.stafford\|Randy Stafford]] 17:~~26, 13 May 2008 (PDT)~~	+	By [[User:Randy.stafford\|Randy Stafford]] - this work is licensed under [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/ Creative Commons Attribution 3]

	Back to [[97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know]] home page		Back to [[97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know]] home page

Randy.stafford at 00:30, 14 May 2008

2008-05-14T00:30:01Z

←Older revision		Revision as of 00:30, 14 May 2008
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	Architecting is about much more than just the technical aspects (of modularizing systems, applying patterns, optimizing performance, etc.); architecting is about balancing the needs of all the stakeholders in a system, from users to CEOs to operations personnel to future programming staff, over the short and long term, in the way that is appropriate to the context at hand.		Architecting is about much more than just the technical aspects (of modularizing systems, applying patterns, optimizing performance, etc.); architecting is about balancing the needs of all the stakeholders in a system, from users to CEOs to operations personnel to future programming staff, over the short and long term, in the way that is appropriate to the context at hand.

-	--[[User:Randy.stafford\|Randy~~.stafford~~]] 17:26, 13 May 2008 (PDT)	+	--[[User:Randy.stafford\|Randy Stafford]] 17:26, 13 May 2008 (PDT)

	Back to [[97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know]] home page		Back to [[97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know]] home page

Randy.stafford at 00:29, 14 May 2008

2008-05-14T00:29:23Z

←Older revision		Revision as of 00:29, 14 May 2008
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	--[[User:Randy.stafford\|Randy.stafford]] 17:26, 13 May 2008 (PDT)		--[[User:Randy.stafford\|Randy.stafford]] 17:26, 13 May 2008 (PDT)
		+
		+	Back to [[97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know]] home page

Randy.stafford: New page: == Contribution 5: Architecting is About Balancing... == ''(note: the current revision of this page, and the following text, is serving as a placeholder, to be further elaborated very soo...

2008-05-14T00:26:42Z

New page: == Contribution 5: Architecting is About Balancing... == ''(note: the current revision of this page, and the following text, is serving as a placeholder, to be further elaborated very soo...

New page

== Contribution 5: Architecting is About Balancing... ==

''(note: the current revision of this page, and the following text, is serving as a placeholder, to be further elaborated very soon)''

Architecting is about much more than just the technical aspects (of modularizing systems, applying patterns, optimizing performance, etc.); architecting is about balancing the needs of all the stakeholders in a system, from users to CEOs to operations personnel to future programming staff, over the short and long term, in the way that is appropriate to the context at hand.

--[[User:Randy.stafford|Randy.stafford]] 17:26, 13 May 2008 (PDT)