Utah IT Architects AssociationIasa Salt Lake City Chapter

Architecture and IASA Introduction

Tom CreightonCTO/Lead ArchitectFamilySearchtc@familysearch.org

January 2014

What is Architecture?

• Many definitions proposed• CMU SEI: > 30 definitions of Software

Architecture– http://www.sei.cmu.edu/architecture/start/glossary/?location=tertiary-nav&source=217160– Bibliographic Software Architecture Definitions– Community Software Architecture Definitions– Modern Software Architecture Definitions– Published Software Architecture Definitions

ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010

• fundamental concepts or properties of a system in its environment embodied in its elements, relationships, and in the principles of its design and evolution

• Note the distinction between architecture and artifacts.

Open Group

• A formal description of a system, or a detailed plan of the system at component level, to guide its implementaition. (source ISO/IEC 42010:2007)

• The structure of components, their inter-relationships, and the principles and guidelines governing their design and evolution over time.

IASA

Foundation Body of Knowledge

Human Dynamics

Design

Quality Attributes

IT Environment

Business Technology Strategy

Software Architecture

InfrastructureArchitecture

Information Architecture

BusinessArchitectureSpecializations

Foundation(5-Pillars)

Enterprise ArchitectureRole

IASA’s Skills Matrix

Microsoft’s Original 7 Competencies

• Leadership• Communication• Organizational dynamics• Strategy• Process and tactics• Technology breadth• Technology depth

Business Technology StrategyIt’s the financials…

TCO, CBA, ROI, Payback Period, NPV, Valuation, etc.It’s business strategy innovation & validation

It’s industry concerns, trends, conformance to standards, and compliance

IT Environment

Skills in the functional and procedural aspects of technology organization to ascertain solution and organizational maturity.

It’s how we run things (maintenance & support) and how we create new things (forward engineering).

IT EnvironmentApplication DevelopmentInfrastructure Technical Project ManagementPlatforms and FrameworksChange ManagementAsset ManagementGovernanceTesting Methods, Tools, and Techniques

Establish Requirements

DesignCreation

ProgramImplementation

SystemTest

Release to Customer

Budget 1 Prototype 1Budget 2Budget 3 Prototype 2 Prototype 3 Prototype 4

Determine Goals, Alternatives,and Constraints

Evaluate Alternatives and Risks

Develop andTest Plan

Plan

Budget 4

ArchitecturalSpike

ReleasePlanning

ProcessIteration

AcceptanceTesting

NextRelease

Voice ofthe Customer

UncertainEstimates

SystemMetaphor

New User Inputs

Testing Scenarios

Bugs

NewVersion

Next Iteration

Spike

ConfidentEstimates

IT Environment

Waterfall

Agile

Buy

Build

Interoperability

Stand alone

Best if you are familiar with:

• Industry trends

• Leaders in the specific application space - and why they are leaders

• Benefits and limitations of various methodologies and technologies

• Methodologies and technologies currently in use (and why)

• How to gage supportability, impacts on operations, etc. (TCO)

It’s

ab

ou

t B

ala

nce…

Quality Attributes

A quality attribute is a non-functional characteristic of a component or a system. It represents a cross-cutting architectural concern for a system or system of systems.

Quality Attributes

IASA Groupings:

• Quality attributes cut across all IT architectural concerns

• Also called systemic qualities, *ilities

• Time, cost, requirement, & resources constraints can become a trade off in applying quality attributes

Usage:• Usability• Localization• Accessibility• Personalization• Customizability

Development:• Manageability• Maintainability• Supportability• Extensibility• Flexibility

Operation:• Performance• Reliability• Availability• Scalability

Security

Quality AttributesMust be measurable, monitored…

…and be practical.

Number of 9’s Yearly Downtime

3 Nines (99.9%) ~9 hours

4 Nines (99.99%) ~1 hour

5 Nines (99.999%) ~ 5 minutes

6 Nines (999.999%) ~31 seconds

24/7 0

Quality Attributes

KeyDevelopment Usability Operations

Ü imapcts Ú

Flexibility + P - - - P - + - PPersonalization - + - - + P - - -Localization P + + P P P PMaintainability P P P P P P P P PExtensibility P P P P P P P P P PReliability P P P P P P P PCustomizability P P P P P P PAvailability P P P P P P P PAccessibility P P P P P PPerformance P P P P P P P PScalability P - P P P P P P PSecurity P P P P P P PDeployability P P P P P P P P P PObservability P P PSupportability - P P P P P P P P P P P

QA Interactions…

Design

Design skills are an architect’s primary tool in delivering architecture strategy and product to the business.

Good design is justifications, reasons, and trade off considerations… it encompasses capturing the decisions made.

Design

Design implies:

Knowledge of methodologies and techniques

Knowledge of tools for design

Knowledge of design artifacts such as patterns, styles, views, and viewpoints

All Design decisions, elements, & artifacts should tie to a business requirement

DesignWhole System Design :

The "whole system" of interconnected elements that participate in, impact, and influence the design process, including the nature and rich tradition of design theory and practice, relevancy of understanding design as a discipline.

The systems sciences, systems theory, and systems thinking; developing “whole systems” perspective and its importance to architects, including recognizing and addressing complex systemic problems and architecture praxis.

Design judgment and the construction of meaning, including work redesign, industry perspectives, and the increasing importance of architectural influence on design.

Human Dynamics

Human Dynamics encompasses the skills associated with managing and influencing people and their interrelationships in the context of an IT project or environment.

Human Dynamics

Attribute What does this really mean?Managing the Culture

Customer Relations

Leadership and Management

Peer Interaction

Collaboration and Negotiation

Presentation Skills

Writing Skills

Politics – understanding of the impact of human culture executing as a culture change agent.

Understanding the psychological dynamics & managing stakeholder & consumer expectations against the business strategy.

Mentoring and guiding those who can benefit from your skills, knowledge, and experience.

Playing well with others by being responsive to their needs by understanding the psychology of interpersonal human interactions.

More Politics – the psychology of human collaboration & networking as well as strategies & methods for working together to reach agreement.

Understanding your audience and presenting/communicating to them appropriately.

Quality over quantity in techniques & methods for formal & informal compositions, especially with regard to technical documentation.

Are You An Architect?

• Do you care?• Do you want to become one?

• Why should it matter?

Your Call to Action…Download & fill out the IASA Skills Matrix

Need to

improve?

Get IASA/CITA-P Certified!

No

Yes

and enroll in IASA

Foundations 101/102!

Foundation 1 Awareness

Associate 2 Basic Information Demonstration

3 Individualized Knowledge

4 Practice

Professional 5 Delivery

6 Connectivity of Ideas

7 Enterprise Level Leadership

Master 8 Industry Mentorship

9 Research

10 Industry Leadership

Learn More• Visit iasaglobal.net• Join IASA

– Corporate membership– Full membership– Basic Free Membership– Iasaglobal.org/iasa/membership_levels.asp

• Browse/download repository items– http://www.iasaglobal.org/iasa/Resources.asp– http://www.iasaglobal.org/Document.asp?MODE=VIEW&DocID=554

• Parts of this presentation used materials from Jim Wilt’s IASA5Pillars presentation:

– http://www.iasaglobal.org/Document.asp?MODE=VIEW&DocID=541– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV09cysHu7k

DISCUSSION