First, let me set the stage correctly. This might sound like I am an anti-agile architect having a rant, but I am not – far from it. I am a fan of agile delivery when done properly and when the delivery model fits the solution it’s trying to deliver. In fact, we develop our solution architecture management and governance product (SAM)completely […]

A little while back I had the opportunity to be part of a discussion with a number of IT leaders from some of Australia’s largest companies from varying industries. The discussion echoed one of the key pain points with their IT solutions I believe Solution Architects forget to focus and provide sufficient thinking around. When looking at solutions, as expected, the […]

In a fast changing and disruptive business environment, becoming an effective Solution Architect can be challenging. The following are some key points that make an effective, pragmatic and a business value focused Solution Architect, who can make a difference to a business.  Avoid Perfection – One thing I frequently say to people is that I am not a purist architect. I do […]

Having worked across various architecture practices, I am convinced that having clearly defined architecture layers and boundaries for each architecture discipline is crucial for driving successful outcomes. On many occasions, architects stray across these boundaries, making the accountability and decision-making lines unclear. This can lead to conflict and confusion where Enterprise Architects (EA) deep dive into too many solution level […]

Many organisations invest millions of dollars on their IT application portfolio to address business needs and goals. In a complex environment, how can we make sure these IT investments (outlined in the IT strategy) align to the overall business strategy? In essence, are the dollars allocated to each application capability proportionate and representative of the return it delivers against the […]

There is no debate about the importance of cloud solutions and services in the modern IT world. Most large organisations will end up with a combination of on-premise and cloud solutions as their application stack, whereas smaller organisations may opt to rely on an all cloud approach for their application needs. Considering current economic conditions, where budgets are tight and […]

In the current business world where an increasing number of solutions are purchased as SaaS or cloud based offerings from vendors, and IT support is getting outsourced to various third party companies, the importance of “availability” in the context of business risk can be easily missed. Usually, this is not well communicated to the business by IT and sometimes not […]