Business Improvement Through Better Software Architecture

In the 10^th edition of The Architecture Journal, published by Microsoft, a son & father pair have done an outstanding job describing architect roles in business software development. It’s not very often that you come across such a well written, eloquent, yet terse piece of writing that energetically captures the responsibilities of architect roles and the relationships between those roles.

The authors, Sten & Per Sundblad, state in the opening paragraph that “business software exists for one reason only: to support the business and its activities … there is no other reason for business software.” This is the premise of their philosophy and a fact that software architects often forget. Countless articles have been written over the past five years on lack of alignment between IT and business. Few of those articles presented the issues and solutions with proper level of abstraction that made reading this article equivalent to reading a really book that you don’t want to end.

The article is authors’ perspective and by no means a standard, but it’s a good use of your time and deserves placement in the Essential Selection.

Firebrand Architect on duty: CK