3 November eSummit — The Art of Organizing Architecture
by Paul Preiss
Emergent architecture and design have become deeply popular topics in Agile circles. From emergent in the since of coming into being to emergent in the sense of the hidden being made plain, the notion captures the basic principle of making decisions as late as possible. This concept leads to a natural question. What is emerging? A crocodile emerging from the water at your feet would not be considered a positive development. When we describe emerging architecture we are adding an aspect or an emotion to the concept. That of a positive outcome or additional value.
In this talk we will discuss techniques which bridge the narrowing gap between the architect and the team. Why the architect is absolutely necessary for a functioning agile team. Which elements of design should emerge and which should remain constraints on the delivery. We will look specifically at both framework and method and discuss the power of healthy tension in a team and how the appropriate roles can be filled to create it. After this talk you will have a sense of form, structure and function and their relationships to emergent architecture. More importantly you will be able to build better software and systems, faster without losing key to successful architecture; value.
