Architects Suck! Architecture Rocks! - James Birnie

Video from Devoxx Poland 2019. When we talk about architecture in software, what does it mean? If you ask 10 technology professionals "what is architecture?", you get about 15 different answers. Sometimes an organisation (usually one crippled by legacy software, legacy business structure, legacy methodologies and legacy culture) has a role called "enterprise architect". This role is almost always counter productive. Instead of planning how to deliver value through new software and structures the prevailing culture forces this role to perpetuate the legacy in all of its forms. At best this places constraints on teams by telling them how to use existing systems to extract new value. At worst this culture actively obstructs new value by only telling delivery teams what they CAN'T do. So how should we view architecture and architects? How should we understand, and measure, our architecture and how can we make sure that our architects both add value and help value to be added? In this talk I'll explain how modern architecture and architects should work, based on our experience of helping complex organisations to move away from their legacy culture and systems.