The Frustrated Software Architect

Tuesday 15th May 2012, 6:30 pm.

Speaker: Simon Brown, founder of Coding the Architecture.

Venue: Room 4.31, University of Edinburgh Informatics Forum, 10 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AB .

Refreshments and networking from 6:00 pm.

This event is free of charge and open to all. No registration required - just turn up.

Synopsis

The IT industry is either taking giant leaps ahead or it’s in deep turmoil. On the one hand we’re pushing forward, reinventing the way that we build software and striving for craftsmanship at every turn. On the other though, we’re continually forgetting the good of the past and software teams are still screwing up on an alarmingly regular basis.

Software architecture plays a pivotal role in the delivery of successful software yet it’s frustratingly neglected by many teams. Whether performed by one person or shared amongst the team, the architecture role exists on even the most agile of teams yet the balance of up front and evolutionary thinking often reflects aspiration rather than reality.

If we really do want to succeed, we need to get over our fascination with shiny new things and starting asking some questions. Does agile need architecture or does architecture actually need agile? Have we forgotten more about good software design than we’ve learnt in recent years? Is emergent design really just about foolishly hoping for the best? Does any of this matter if we’re not fostering the software architects of tomorrow? How do we move from frustration to serenity?

About the speaker

		Simon lives in Jersey and is an independent consultant, the founder of Coding the Architecture and either a software architect who codes or a software developer who understands architecture. Having successfully delivered a variety of projects on the Microsoft .NET and Java platforms, Simon now also regularly speaks to and teaches audiences across Europe about software architecture and its role in modern software development teams. He is also the author of Software Architecture for Developers, which is being published incrementally through Leanpub. He still writes code too. Follow Simon on Twitter: @simonbrown.