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Where’s Einstein when you need him?The challenge
Business never stands still. Staying ahead of the game requires constant change, sometimes large and complex, sometimes small and straightforward. Whatever the scenario, the challenge for the architect is in understanding: how all the parts of a business system - the people, processes, information and technology - fit together; what changes will enable the desired business outcome; and what the knock-on effects of changing one part will be on the whole system.
One brain’s not enough
Big systems are too complex to be understood by just one person, unless of course Einstein’s on the team. Even if he was, and could understand everything, he’d be hard pushed to find enough hours in the day to explain it to everyone and then would he be able to persuade everyone that his theories were correct and get all parties actively engaged in implementing them?
The architect’s conundrum
In the ideal world, the architect would understand everything but it is not humanly possible, something has to give. If the architect sacrifices taking an end-to-end view (‘breadth’) in favour of detail, then parts of the system won’t be understood and are likely to go wrong. If the architect sacrifices an understanding of the technology (‘depth’), in favour of ‘breadth’, the architect will become disconnected from reality, overly theoretical and over time, practically useless – there would be no true understanding of what can actually be built.
This ‘breadth’ and ‘depth’ challenge often results in architects and developers not being unable to understand each other, so poor relationships develop between the teams. Imagine the further potential relationship challenges if you’re also working with an outsourcing partner!
Team work makes the dream work
The chief architect must take the end-to-end ‘breadth’ view and rely on the technical experts for the ‘depth’ and these people are usually dispersed throughout the organisation; in business departments, architecture groups, application development and maintenance teams and service delivery organisations. Bringing them together effectively is vital so all information can flow freely, up, down and across the team.
These human assets speak different languages but all must understand the consequences of their actions and the effect of their work on the overall system. Getting the team organised is the real secret behind successfully creating, and then implementing, an architecture that supports the business and enables the creation of business value.
Daily life can be scary for an architect though, how would you feel going to work everyday knowing that you know everything and nothing simultaneously?!