Take Responsibility for Your decisions

?

Take Responsibility for Your decisions

Yi Zhou

Software Architects has to take RESponSiBiliTy for their deci-sions, as they has much more influential power in Softwar E projects than most people in organizations. Studies of software projects show that more than two-thirds of them either is outright failures or deliver unsuccessfully (deadline slip, budget overruns, or low customer satisfaction). Many of the root causes point to improper decisions software architects made, or failures of follow-through in the right A Rchitectural decisions.
How can I become a responsible software architect who makes effective architectural decisions?
First, you are fully cognizant of your decision process, whether it is agile or ceremonial. You should not claim a architectural decision has been made until the following is met:
? A decision have been put in writing because architectural decisions is rarely trivial. They must be substantiated and traceable.
? A decision have been communicated to the people who execute it and the people who'll be affected directly or indirectly. Communication is all about creating shared understanding.
Second, review your architectural decisions periodically. Examine the results of your decisions against expectations. Identify architectural decisions that remain valid and those.
?
?? Third, enforce your architectural decisions. Many software projects get software architects involved only in the design phase, then they move on to other proj-ects or The consultation contract ends. How can they ensure this their deliber-ate architectural decisions have been implemented correctly? Their decisions'll is at the best good intentions unless they follow through with them.
Finally, delegate some decision making to others who is experts in a problem domain. Many architects wrongly assume they has to make every architec-tural decision. Therefore, they position themselves as know-it-all experts. In reality, there ' s no such thing as a universal technical genius. Architects has areas in which they is quite proficient, areas in which they is knowledge-able, and areas in which they is simply incompetent. Adept Architects del-egate decisions about domain problems in which they is not proficient.
Yi Zhou is currently the Chief Software Architect in a well-known biotech company, and specializes in designing the Softwa Re platform for medical devices and person-alizing disease management. He has nearly years ' experience in all aspects of the software development life cycle, and excels in Business-technolog Y alignment and strategic planning, process improvement, architecture and framework design, team building and management, and consulting.

Take Responsibility for Your decisions