ZapThink have recently published a number of good articles on complex systems, the death of Enterprise Architecture and the dangers of ‘checklist architecture’. These have resonated nicely with some of my thoughts on the state of (IT) architecture in general and whether we are constraining ourselves unnaturally with the tools, processes and thinking models we have created. Here are the problems that I see we have with our current approach:

1. Systems are getting ever more complex but we are still relying on the same-old-processes to deal with that.
2. We have processes which are too large, overblown and themselves too complex which lead to people being driven by the process rather than the business goals for the system(s) under development.
3. We are creating siloed professionals who are aligning themselves to particular disciplines; for example: Enterprise Architect, Solution Architect, Integration Architect the list is almost endless! This results in sharing of responsibilities but no one person or group retaining the overall vision.
4. The majority of enterprises faced with addressing these challenges themselves have such large and complex bureaucracies in place that the people working in them inevitably end up becoming ‘inward facing’ and concentrating on their own needs rather than solving the complex business problems. There is of course an interesting dichotomy here which is: do we develop systems that just reinforce the status-quo of the systems we live by?

What we need is a new approach which both encompasses the need to address the complexity of systems we must build but at the same time allows for the change and chaos which is almost the natural state of human affairs and allows new and interesting properties and behaviours to emerge. As I’ve said elsewhere what we need is a new breed of versatilists who, just like the Vitruvian man of Leonardo da Vinci, can bring to bear a whole range of skills and competencies to help address the challenges we face in building todays complex systems. I think what we need is an update of the agile manifesto. This won’t just address the relatively narrow confines of the software delivery processes but will be far more extensive. Here is my first stab at such a manifesto.

1. Systems of systems rather than single systems.
2. Business processes that provide automated flexibility whilst at the same time recognising there is a human and more collaborative element to most processes where sometimes new and unexpected behaviours can emerge.
3. Adaptable and configurable software delivery processes that recognise business requirements are dynamic, unclear, and difficult to communicate rather than a single, monolithic ‘one size fits all’ approach that assumes requirements are stable, well understood, and properly communicated.
4. People that objectively view experiences and reflect on what they have learnt, look further than their current roles, explore other possibilities and pursue lifelong learning rather than those that focus on the narrow confines of the current project or how to better themselves (and their employer).
5. Enterprises (whether they be consulting companies, product developers or end users or IT) that recognise the intrinsic value of their people and allow them to grow and develop rather than driving them to meet artificial goals and targets that feed their own rather than their clients/customers needs.