The Software Architect's Profession: An Introduction

• Authors: Marc T. Sewell;Laura Sewell
• Venue: The Software Architect's Profession: An Introduction
• Year: 2001

From the Book:PrefaceIt's fun to be on the right side of a transformation. Being on the wrong side is frustrating, because nothing ever seems to fit. Some people make it through the change, others don't. To do so requires a shift in the way we see, an alteration of what psychologists call our mental set. That is the purpose of this book: To change the way people see software design and construction, supplying the reader with a new cognitive map.This is not a technical book—on purpose. We present the case that there is a perfect analogy between constructing a building and constructing software and that this analogy is the tool for making the transformation. If we delved deeply into the familiar terms and practices of software design and construction, readers with technical backgrounds would be pulled down by the thick layer of associations and habits they have built up in their minds from experience—hindering change.Instead, we talk largely about building architecture and construction, bringing the subject back to the software industry to illustrate the truisms of the analogy. We hope the reader is able to really see architecture and construction—the history, roles, and processes—from a fresh perspective, not in the light cast from their software experience. Seeing architecture and construction in their classical forms creates a separate template in the mind, one that can then be superimposed on the familiar milieu of software construction. In this way, the transformation can take place and we can build software predictably and reliably.The analogy is the tool that makes things fit. Don't be fooled by its seeming simplicity. Simplicitydoes not equate with superficiality, and something does not have to be impossibly confusing to be profound. Buildings are highly complex and their construction difficult, but everyone understands how they get built and the roles of those involved. That clarity of role and process is what is missing from software construction. Bringing the clarity to the software industry is what the transformation is about.This book is written for a broad audience of technical and nontechnical people alike. It can be understood by anyone and would be helpful to clients of software projects, software professionals, students, and interested inhabitants of software systems. Clients are especially important because they are driving this transformation—not academia or software professionals.In the 1990s, clients and employers began to use an architectural approach to software construction. They bestowed the new title of architect on software professionals, wrote their job descriptions, and established architecture departments. Even those clients and employers not in sync with the analogy saw a need for the architectural role. They created the title CTO and assigned this person the guardianship of the technology, enterprise architecture, and software strategy. They only erred with the title. This person is fulfilling the role of chief architect.The clients have a natural, intuitive understanding of the analogy. It gives them a mental image needed to understand and manage software construction and, simply stated, it just seems right to them to design something first and then carefully build it under the supervision of the guardian of the design.We hope this book will, in its small way, give the reader insights into architecture along with a tool for thinking in a new way.Marc and Laura [e-mail]