Inside Architecture
Notes on Enterprise Architecture, Business Alignment, Interesting Trends, and anything else that interests me this week...
Stories
My father used to tell stories. He would gather us around, myself and my two older brothers, and at...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 11/22/2006
Is there value in consistency?
Do all of your project managers deliver the same information to their team and management? Do all of...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 11/21/2006
Can your software be TOO functional?
When deciding what package of software to purchase, or to decide if you should build your own...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 11/20/2006
Iterative... agile... architecture
A salesman walks into a bar near Microsoft. He sees that there is no where to sit, but he's dying...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 11/16/2006
Should our next generation of languages require us to declare the applications' architecture?
As languages 'improve' over time, we see a first principle emerge: Move responsibility for many of...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 11/14/2006
Introducing a culture of code review
I got a ping-back from another blog post written by Jay Wren. He mentioned that his dev team doesn't...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 11/13/2006
going quiet for a while
I'll be on vacation for the next 10 days, so don't expect a lot of blogging. I'll try to take nice...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 11/02/2006
Should an interface be stable when semantics are not?
I know an architect who is developing an enterprise service for the passing of contracts from one...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 11/02/2006
Change agent, change administrator?
Change agents break the rules. They think on the outside. They point out the stuff that is...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 11/01/2006
Should Enterprise Architecture rock your world?
In many organizations, EA is a sidelined process or a last thought. It is hard to be effective in...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 10/29/2006
Architecture as eye candy
Sometimes, the architect is not really relevant. For architectural purists, this is a shocking thing...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 10/28/2006
Alas, We must differ...
Udi Dahan posted an interesting reply to a recent posting of mine. In my post, I go into detail to...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 10/27/2006
SOA and database coupling
What do you do if two enterprise services share the same database? I am running into this all the...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 10/25/2006
declared, visible, and open coupling
Recently, I blogged that two coupled services should have declared, visible, and open coupling. I...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 10/23/2006
What would you say are the requirements that all services should meet?
I was called on, today, to justify a technical decision that was 'smelly' that resulted from one of...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 10/18/2006
We do Scrumbut
EricGu has a great post on something he calls scrumbut. It rings very true. One of the teams I was...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 10/13/2006
What SHOULD a sequence diagram show?
For most folks, a UML sequence diagram is something that is either (a) unnecessary, (b) clearly...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 10/13/2006
What is the scope of a governance project?
One thing that I get to consider: what is the right way to govern large IT projects? I'm in the...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 10/12/2006
Speaking to "yes"
About ten years ago, a salesman used an old trick on me. He asked a series of questions designed to...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 10/01/2006
If you don't lead, others will
You can smell it in the air. When a good idea's time has come, many people will start working on it,...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 09/23/2006
Lead and harness the passion in those around you
Architects don't write code. That's the first thing that a developer notices when he or she moves...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 09/22/2006
Definition of an architectural model
Definition: An architectural model is a rich and rigorous diagram, creating using available...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 09/17/2006
A distributed systems' logical data model
There's lots of different ways to describe data. I've seen data models that attempt to describe,...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 09/14/2006
Claiming credit
I'm a collaborative person, and most of the time, I'm quite content to make sure that other folks...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 09/14/2006
multiple architectures - many ghosts in the machine
I got an interesting comment to my post about a persistent data grid... that the idea is interesting...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 09/10/2006
On Work Life Balance, burnout, and EA
James McGovern's post on Work Life Balance got me thinking. What is the value proposition for...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 09/09/2006
The event driven Persistent Data Grid
Not a web control, I'm talking about the notion of applying grid computing to large scale...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 09/08/2006
When to stay redundant
Jack Van Hoof asked, in the reply to yesterday's post, if it is always a good idea to reduce...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 09/08/2006
The architecture that people fight about
It's kinda easy to pick a fight inside MS. We are a very passionate lot, and no one walks around...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 09/06/2006
We will miss you, Steve
It might sound corny, but between all the goofy and dangerous things that Steven "Crocodile Hunter"...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 09/06/2006
Selling the EA story
A recent thread written by one of the IASA chapter members in our area made an interesting...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 09/02/2006
The blurry line between event driven data management and grid architecture
Ever found yourself describing a design that you think is so 'obvious' that everyone must already...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 08/31/2006
Unit tests do not solve every problem... but they do solve a few...
a few days ago, I blogged about "what is the right level of detail to describe an interface," and...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 08/28/2006
Contribute to Event Driven Architecture
I personally believe that Event Driven Architecture (EDA) is the future. I don't believe that SOA...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 08/27/2006
Say "no" to the ever-creeping meeting request
I spend way too much time in meetings. I've been working myself ragged trying to keep up with my...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 08/26/2006
Clear responsibilities, clear leadership
As a company grows, new situations arise, and a great deal of effort will emerge to cope with the...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 08/25/2006
Just how to best describe an interface
We have a pretty good solution for portal code interface in our team. We've been using a home-grown...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 08/22/2006
Creating a set of shared principles
Sometimes, it is easy to get people to agree. That most frequently happens when everyone agrees with...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 08/19/2006
Facing uncertainty in your architecture
On OO design, we try to encapsulate the things that we think may change. Whether it is creating an...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 08/18/2006
Sitting, silently, spinning
If a group of people look busy, but the real value that they are supposed to be producing doesn't...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 08/16/2006
The gift that keeps on giving
Every now and then, an odd thing happens: a manager takes on a tough business problem. (not so odd)....
Author: Nick Malik Date: 08/14/2006
The corporate IT balancing act: agility vs. stability
You are the CIO. You have a choice. On one end of the spectrum, you can control costs by delivering...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 08/13/2006
Third attempt - definition of an application in a SOA environment
In a previous post, I rattled on about the problems faced by Application Portfolio managers who wish...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 08/11/2006
Agreement, Consensus, Unity and other fables
I blame it on Jacob. There are many project managers in the company, but Jacob is just plain...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 08/08/2006
Corporate personal bad habits
We talk about corporate culture and how the 'way' the company does things affects how readily they...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 08/06/2006
If your app uses MSDE and you want it to run on Vista... UPGRADE to SQL Server Express
I'm sure you will hear this many times in the coming days. If you are a software developer writing...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 08/03/2006
The art of listening
Do you know how to listen? I think I do. I put down my preconceptions about what is right or fair,...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 08/03/2006
Be careful of the 'stack' diagram
I'm always a little leery of a stack diagram that shows 'systems' living at some level of the stack....
Author: Nick Malik Date: 08/02/2006
Mistakes in the business show up in IT
You know what they say, "Stuff rolls downhill" If the applications are supposed to be simple, and if...
Author: Nick Malik Date: 07/31/2006