Software Architecture Fundamentals - 02

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🏛️ Traditional Architect vs 🚀 Modern Agile Architect

Understanding the Difference in Software Architecture Roles

Have you ever wondered what software architects really do?
Well, not all architects are the same. In fact, there's a big difference between a traditional software architect and a modern Agile architect. Let's break it down.

👴 Traditional Architect

💡 Who are they?

  • Think of the guy in the white suit from The Matrix movie.

  • Works in isolation, away from the team.

  • Believes they know everything about the system from the start.

  • Writes big, detailed designs before anyone starts coding.

🛠️ How they work:

  • Creates a perfect plan before writing code.

  • Developers are expected to follow the plan exactly.

  • No flexibility—changes must go through long approval steps.

⚠️ What’s the problem?

  1. Wrong from the start – You can't know all user needs upfront.

  2. Hard to change – Bureaucracy makes updates slow.

  3. Slows everything down – One architect becomes a bottleneck.

  4. Wastes time and money – Design often becomes outdated quickly.

📉 Real Example:

IBM spent years designing software for air traffic control… and never delivered. Why? The world kept changing while they were busy designing.

🚀 Modern Architect (Agile Style)

💡 Who are they?

  • A team player, not a boss.

  • Helps developers grow their own architectural thinking.

  • Doesn't believe in “one perfect design.”

🔄 How they work:

  • Build small pieces of the system.

  • Release often and gather feedback.

  • Make changes as they learn more (Inspect and Adapt).

  • Treat rebuilding as a normal, smart part of the process.

🧪 Embrace Experiments:

  • Don’t fear failure.

  • If an idea doesn’t work—great! You learned something.

  • Keep what works, throw out what doesn’t.

👥 Everyone's an Architect (Kind of)

In Agile:

  • Developers help make architectural decisions.

  • The architect’s role is to guide, not control.

  • Architects teach, coach, and make sure the big picture stays clear.



    👷‍♂️ A Day in the Life of a Modern Architect

    Let’s meet Frank, an Agile architect at ABC, Inc., and follow his day:

    ☀️ Morning: Team Collaboration

    🔄 Design Planning:

    • Meets with a full cross-functional team (devs, UX, ops, product).

    • Helps choose architectural patterns (like microservices).

    • Uses dot voting to make team decisions together.

    • Plans an event storming session for tomorrow to map out user stories.

    🧪 Sprint Review:

    • Watches users interact with the software.

    • Notices flaws in the current design.

    • Agrees with the team to throw out a few days of work (learning opportunity!).

    • Plans to visit the customer’s workplace for better understanding.

    🎓 Mentoring:

    • Helps Jill prep for a talk on reactive systems.

    • Encourages team learning every morning.

    🍽️ Afternoon: Learning & Sharing

    🍕 Lunch & Cards:

    • Plays cards during lunch with other teams—sounds fun, but it's productive!

    • Casual games turn into problem-solving sessions across teams.

    🏛️ Architecture Guild Meeting:

    • Meets with architects from every team.

    • Discusses shared architecture challenges.

    • Helps the guild collaboratively evolve the system design.

    • Updates the architecture wall to reflect new ideas.

    🍻 Wrapping Up:

    • Joins a team interviewing a new hire.

    • Focuses on the person’s ability to learn fast, not just what they know.

    🧠 Final Thoughts

    Modern architects like Frank don’t just design—they:

    • Support the team

    • Teach and mentor

    • Encourage experiments

    • Keep the system coherent

    • Help others become better architects

    💡 An Agile Architect is a team player, a teacher, and a learner.

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