AGILE architecture vs. agile ARCHITECTURE

As an architect involved in an agile implementation (my current gig), you can imagine how interested I was to see that there’s a new book on Agile Architecture, and perhaps how disappointed I was to see that it focused on SOA and Cloud.  That’s not to put down SOA or the cloud.  I’m a huge fan of both.  But it wasn’t the area of agility that I was hoping that a book, with that title, would address.  The misunderstanding was mine, not the authors.  I haven’t read the book yet, but I’m sure I will.

That moment of misunderstanding crystallized a thought: how even a two word phrase like “agile architecture” had two completely different meanings.  The opening scene of the movie “The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey,” puts a rather humorous twist on this idea, when Gandalf introduces himself to Bilbo Baggins (who has apparently forgotten having met him as a boy).

Bilbo: Good Morning

Gandalf: What do you mean? Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not;

Bilbo: <stunned silence>

Gandalf: Or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?

Bilbo: All of them at once, I suppose.

Of course, in Enterprise Architecture, we have the same problem.  Does Enterprise Architecture mean “the practice of using technology architecture at an enterprise-wide scale,” or does it mean “the practice of using architectural ideas to shape the enterprise itself?” 

And after a bit of stunned silence, perhaps it means

“Creating an architecture to describe the externalities of an enterprise to set its context and improve the relationships it has with customers, partners, and suppliers?” 

All of them at once, I suppose.

Having just re-watched the Hobbit movie on my morning flight, these bits connected up in my head.

I’m proud to be both an architect of agility (applying the principles of agility to the processes of a business so that the business achieves the ability to change its own processes in response to agile demands), as well as a person who can craft technology architecture that reflects the notion of agility itself (technology that can be set up to change rapidly in response to business events).

All of them at once, I suppose.

Comments

• Anonymous
  April 05, 2013
  Perhaps you should read the book! I wouldn't say it "focuses" on SOA and Cloud, but rather considers them along with many other trends in Enterprise IT that are prompting entirely new approaches to architecture for achieving greater business agility. Since you call yourself an architect of agility this book should be right up your alley!

• Anonymous
  April 08, 2013
  I'm sure I will add the book to my reading backlog.  --- N

• Anonymous
  April 09, 2013
  The comment has been removed