The word architecture has been usurped by so many professions and in so many contexts. It is nowadays both a noun and a verb. To architect something is akin to doing some mysterious designing or reworking on some thingamajig: software? product? web? complex social issue? processes? country?... all those can be architected I believe Charles Correa had pointed out that we often use phrases equivalent to Mr. M.K Gandhi was the architect of our country and so on but never really phrases such as xyz was the chartered accountant of our country or abc was the civil engineer of our country. Which shows rather pointedly, how important architects and architecture really is. Being both a real world architect, and also an IT person, I sometimes sit at the conceptual cusp between these two fields. I know for a fact that the conventional architect has got blinkers on their eyes, and would not be seen using solutions/processes from other fields that could have served them well. Such as version control (Any architect here using Git? SVN? Mercury?) Or issue-tracking, and so on. But the those who have usurped the word architecture and architect also make the same mistake of not really understanding what our field really offers. Many have not really found out what does a real world, bricks n mortar architect really do. Many are not even interested, and just use the phrase software architect all too casually But there is a difference between engineering something and architecting something. An architect works on the context. Architect also works on the spaces within the context, opening up opportunities while disallowing others. The right mix of opening up and closing down of opportunities is very critical for good architecture. The engineer can setup a working structure. The architect needs to create what is NOT the structure into which people move and bloom The right set of spaces can make a teenages heart throb because she can catch the glimpse of someone she is fond of, without being detected herself. The wrong set of spaces, may rob her of such opportunities and make her life seem dreary and humdrum. The right set of spaces can uplift an old couple in a public space to carve out some privacy for themselves in the din and sow or dig memories for themselves. The wrong set of spaces can rob them of the peace that they desire; as they navigate through the nagging din of a badly designed mall. If you extend this word; architecture to other uses; such as software architecture you would find similar analogies. A bad architect does only the engineering right; and not get the context right. Bad architects do not know which opportunity to support and which to remove. Badly designed software does not open up opportunities. They more often than not just tow the line of being humdrum. Many bad real-world bricks n mortar architecture just shout out to the passerby to look at her just the way a lady of the night shows the wares of the pimp who set her up for her tasks. In a similar vein, badly designed software also displays similar traits: alluring GUI (Graphic User Interface) with all lipstick and mascara, with no depth or intelligence behind the allure. Many software are designed with just the engineering right, but without any spaces to do meaningful work. The structure is there alright, but there is no life in that structure.... something akin to abandonded structures one often sees beside a forgotten railway track all over India This post was made after I got exhausted during a demo of a so called ERP software that someone had written. Frankly it was nothing but a rather tediously written RDBMS software. The structure was there alright, but when I asked the developer how it relates to life; and which opportunities does this support and which ones does it remove, he was wondering what I was asking. There is no architecture really in these products. Hmmm... I guess, just like badly architected software products, one would have badly architected countries, badly architected social issue, and so on
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 20:02:09 +0000
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