Entry #4: Who Needs an Architect?

“Who Needs an Architect?” is an article written by Martin Fowler in July 2003, where he talks about Software Architecture and the importance of the Architect's Role in a Software Development Team. 

Architecture, according to the IEEE definition inside the article, is the highest level concept of a system in its environment. The Architecture of a Software System is an organization or structure of components interacting through interfaces and those components are being composed of smaller components and interfaces. 

However, since there is not a higher-level concept of a system, Ralph Johnson gives another definition: In most successful software projects, the expert developers working on that project have a shared understanding of the system design, this shared understanding is called "Architecture".

This shared understanding of the system provides tools to the Software Architect to respond to situations, problems or changes made by the client as it allows a quick response from the Software Development  Team. The Software Architect has the duties of documenting and communicating to the rest of the project's team, the Architect needs to understand all the trade-offs between scope, schedule, cost, and quality.

The author mentions that there are two kinds of Software Architects: the Reloadus and the Oryzus. The Reloadus Architect is the kind of architect who makes the big calls all by himself, while the Oryzus Architect is the kind of architect who doesn’t makes the important decisions by himself because it is the one that mentor or tutors the Software Development Team, so they can help him to make the decisions. 

The Oryzus Architect is a better kind of Software Architect, because he is the one that creates a clear way to share the information regarding the project to all the members of the team, and by doing so it creates a better trust among the team, making him the a True Team Leader.

Article: Fowler, M. (2003). Who Needs an Architect?. Recovered from https://martinfowler.com/ieeeSoftware/whoNeedsArchitect.pdf