In this article, we are publishing Scott Logic’s approach to architecture, and how we avoid common pitfalls. This is the first in a series of articles we will be publishing that define our approach to IT consultancy through the lens of principles we have honed over two decades of delivering complex, critical change for the world’s largest financial institutions and government organisations – principles that we adhere to across our consultancy services and roles.
Delivering large IT change in complex, mission-critical environments is hard. Too often there are stories of large budget or time overruns, or even total failure to deliver IT projects. Whilst there are myriad reasons for these failures, in many cases they can be attributed to poorly implemented architecture.
We believe architecture has a two-fold purpose. Firstly, it is about helping an organisation do the ‘right’ thing in any given context. Secondly, it is about ensuring that once an organisation has made a choice to do a particular thing, it is executed in the ‘right’ way.
We recognise that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to architecture. Our architects are experienced in quickly assessing the context and finding the right combination of methodology, tools and communication styles that work for the project and for your organisation.
Our architecture principles
1) Context is king
It is vital to know both why a change is being implemented and the environment within which it is being implemented to ensure that an optimal solution can be designed.
The deep understanding we gain of the business drivers, priorities and budgets (time and cost) provides a clear steer towards the business value we are targeting, and allows us to ensure that the solutions we develop remain aligned with delivering that value.
That same understanding of the organisation – its strategic goals, risk appetite, capabilities, structure and policies – helps us tailor the solutions we design for a seamless fit within the existing organisation.
Finally, understanding the technical context – the existing estate, how the change relates to it, and broader architectural principles – ensures that solutions are pragmatic and aligned with the technical direction of the organisation.
2) Bring everyone on the journey
For maximum business value to be delivered, all stakeholders must be aligned. As architects, we act as translators between business, technical, product, design and delivery stakeholders, ensuring that the impact of decisions is understood by all, from their different perspectives.
We believe in a one-team approach where architects are closely integrated with stakeholders from key disciplines and able to provide iterative designs and feedback, working in the open to integrate architecture into the whole delivery cycle.
3) Principled, but pragmatic
Far too often, we see architects in ivory towers, too removed from the realities of delivery and sticking rigidly to principles and heavyweight governance processes. Whilst one facet of architecture is to ensure adherence to principles and governance processes, this cannot be at the expense of delivery progress.
We recognise that principles need to be balanced with pragmatism. With our approach, architects champion the technical vision, but are willing to be flexible to allow delivery to progress. They react to new information and changes rapidly, and make intentional, informed decisions on designs and plans to allow value to be delivered iteratively, while remaining aligned with strategic goals.
4) Just enough architecture
We prefer to operate in an Agile by Default way. Just as it can be counterproductive to have too much governance and ‘big up-front design’, it can also be risky to have not enough analysis and design before implementation. It’s cheaper to change things on paper than after they are built.
We believe it’s important to understand how much architecture is needed based on the organisational and project context. We aim to ‘right size’ the governance and design activities so that architecture can be an enabler of change, not a blocker of progress. In this way, architecture is used to govern architecturally significant decisions, with other decisions being delegated to implementation teams to enable rapid but controlled delivery.
5) The devil is in the detail
It is vital as architects that we see the bigger picture in the context of change. However, it is easy to get lost looking upwards and forget about the implementation detail. We often see architects who lack the deep domain and/or technical knowledge required to ensure that the solutions they design are efficient to implement, with logical components and interfaces that map closely onto available solutions and interfaces.
We believe it is vital for architects to have the skills both to consider the wider context and to understand implementation details where they matter, so that designed solutions can be implemented and so that trust can be built with implementation teams.
6) The right tool for the job
We recognise that whilst there are many problems with well-defined solutions, there are many unique challenges that require creative problem-solving. There is no perfect, one-size-fits-all solution. Every choice is about balancing trade-offs.
We believe that simplicity has myriad benefits, and we always aim to select the right tools (within organisational constraints) for the job to deliver the simplest viable solution. This is why we are technology- and vendor-agnostic, and step beyond the hype so that we can build the right solution for you, unencumbered by vendor and technology bias.
7) Continuous Improvement
As architects, we are champions for good design (pragmatically balanced with making progress). As organisations go through the change journey, we use our deep technical expertise and understanding of the broader context to continuously identify areas for improvement. In this way, we make small wins as we go, delivering both immediate and longer-term business value.
How can we help you?
For more on how our approach to architecture can help your organisation, visit our Architecture & Tech Advisory page.