As a consulting solution and enterprise architect, I frequently need to explain what I do – and don’t do. Too often recruiters and agencies ask for an architect without understanding the role.
Documenting solution architecture
Need a practical template for your solution architecture document? Feel free to use mine! If you are a stakeholder in a development project, demand that the project delivers architecture documentation that meets this standard.
User stories are NOT requirements
It’s a common misconception that user stories replace use cases or traditional requirements specifications in agile development.
Perspectives on business capabilities
Many companies engage in business capability modelling, which isn’t a standardized activity.
Understanding the universal business model
The universal business model applies to all businesses regardless of size and is fundamental to establishing enterprise and solution architecture.
Designing for observability
Observability is an alarmingly underestimated quality of solution architecture, because it’s never the ‘business’ who asks for it. But it’s absolutely essential for achieving good auditability and operability, and it helps you monitor your capacity, performance and availability.
A minimum viable development process
Be warned! SAFe is not a development process. Neither is Scrum. And agile development isn’t either. So, if your organization doesn’t have an underlaying development process, going agile, using Scrum or adopting SAFe won’t make your projects more efficient or successful.
The enterprise architecture canvas
When advising clients on enterprise architecture, helping them implement and integrate ERP and CRM systems, or developing new software for them, I’m often asked to review their enterprise architecture, and sometimes help them document it.
Books that shaped my approach to architecture
A handful of publications, some initially published in my early career, have significantly shaped my approach to solution and enterprise architecture.