Month: December 2015

Geoff Manaugh’s blog post about “ghost streets” (Bldgblog) is fascinating. Cities around the world are filled with streets that are no longer streets. It isn’t too hard to spot the diagonal, no-longer-street “street” in the above photo because of its clear impact to the surrounding buildings.

It seems to me that this phenomenon doesn’t just apply to city streets. The simple act of integrating two (or more) things will inevitably intertwine subsequent design changes. City streets are a form of integration with the unique property of being visible from above. While maybe not as visible, these ghost structures also exist in software systems (and not to be confused with “architecture”).

 

We live in interesting times.

Microsoft is selling Linux-based software. Banks are adopting Agile.

I must admit that I’ve had a mixed relationship with Agile, but I was pleasantly surprised after attending Ilan’s Scrum training this week. I left with a sense of relief as common sense seems to prevail.

Agile isn’t about speed; it’s about delivering business value as soon as possible. It’s all about de-risking your project delivery. Who wouldn’t want that?

Agile doesn’t exclude planning; you still need a plan, but, importantly, you can choose when to detail the needed parts of the plan. Yes, architects have historically been known for trying to detail too much, too early, but that’s the anti-pattern of decision-making without proper understanding of context. Good plans stop you from hitting the wall; and a good architecture is part of a good plan.

Agile doesn’t exclude documentation. Agile is all about good team communication, but you cannot make everyone part of the team; time (before and after the project), location (different floors, buildings, cities, or countries) and organisation (external stakeholders e.g., regulator and customers, or just plain size) will always be challenging – have a back-up plan. Good documentation is still a good form of communication; and one of the reasons we prosper.

Spot the Agile cowboys next time you review the Definition of Done or attend a stand-up.