Microsoft’s Architecture Journal 15

The latest issue of the Microsoft’s Architecture Journal is bound to rekindle the topic of maturity and purpose of the software / enterprise / technical / infrastructure / data architecture discipline. The issue is fresh off the press. Microsoft is correctly anticipating the onslaught of responses by setting up a special discussion forum. As of writing of this post the forum is not yet active, but once it becomes active the phrase tra-ta-ta-ta-ta will take on a whole new meaning.

Constantin K.
Firebrand Architect™
www.SoftwareArchitectures.com

Software Architecture Conferences and Events

The Software Engineering Institute maintains a comprehensive list of "upcoming conferences, workshops, and calls for participation that explicitly include "software architecture" among their topics of interest." This is a good place to start if you're looking for an opportunity to share thoughts with like minded individuals outside of your immediate circle of software architecture contacts. Research each event with care, as different user communities look at architecture from a different lens.

Constantin K.
Firebrand Architect™
www.SoftwareArchitectures.com

Information sharing / architecture documentation sharing

In a survey taken by SoftwareArchitectures.com in the spring of 2006 over 65% of the visitors were most interested in seeing practical examples of software architectures. The architecture of the real world enterprise grade software systems is proprietary as it represents the competitive advantage of an organization. Therefore it is difficult to obtain software architecture documents of such caliber, which consequently hinders information sharing between software architecture professionals.

But it is still possible to share the essence of software / system architecture without compromising organizational secrets. To achieve this, first, complete anonymity of the submitter must be assured. Second, the proprietary information must be rewritten or removed (e.g. IP addresses, company name, product name, interface systems, etc.). Third, the business problem solved by a system must be generalized. Fourth, implementation specific information must be removed to a level that does not give away owner’s identity.

Who will invest their free time into doing this? Only those who want to obtain feedback on the architecture from the greater software architecture community. Caveat: constructive feedback is not likely as long as the architect and the reviewers are not utilizing the same architectural paradigm while discussing the document.

SoftwareArchitectures.com has a library of usable, complete, and well-documented software architecture design documents available for free. See the Case Studies link on the main page.

- Firebrand Architect on duty: JP