Software and systems design and architecture is a complex and interesting business. I have designed the methodology for architecting solutions for a few companies and used a number of different systems to architect systems I have built. I have put together a sample of this for you to download in the downloads section of the site. Make sure you understand the terms and conditions before using it.

Because so many IT people specialize in either software or systems, one of the challenges strongly believe that you cannot successfully have one without the other.

Architecture is a process not a property. And it is more than just solving a business problem. It is economics. All decisions are tradeoffs and concessions and understanding the interrelationships between aspects of your systems is key to getting it right the first time.

Beware when people are trying to have technology fix business problems. Ever wonder why large-scale projects, particularly CRM & ERP, spiral out of control? The unspoken hope of these projects is the implementing technology alone will generate business efficiencies.

Packaged software integration and custom development suffer from a basic problem. Most business processes are a broken jumble of subjective steps which involve too many value judgments and exceptions. Usually these have been interpreted differently or adapted by multiple users, often to accommodate exceptions or perceived exceptions.

Additionally, there are almost no real business standards governing processes and data so every implementation is unique. To gain acceptance for a project and reduce resistance, project sponsors expect systems to adapt to these factors, with disastrous results. The truth is that businesses need to tie systems and software architecture to process reengineering. It is almost impossible to implement one without the other.