Architecture & People

Architecture in technology is a term bantied about with all sorts of meanings. Some use it for standardization, or innovation, or infrastructure, or platform, or interfaces. Regardless, it's clear to me that architecture is a very important element of successful software development.

My favored definition of architecture is "glue", the stuff that makes different systems work together. I also like "gap" as a description, that when something falls in the gap between two systems, it's architecture.

But architecture really means people working , communicating, designing and working together. CTO John Helm describes architect as "people working together". My focus on architecture is communication, from which comes sound architecture. Are we getting input from all tech leads, is DB team involved, what about ops? It is also key that Architecture leads not "lord over" the development teams. The best architects act as shepherds of technology, and include the development teams in technology architecture exploration and outcome, making it a team effort.

With teams in place collaborating and communicating, you will be on the right track to architecture.