Facilitating Software Architecture

Chapter 5. Rolling Out the Architecture Advice Process

Now that you have an idea of how the advice process works and what it looks like in action, you may be wondering how to start implementing it in your own team or organization. In this chapter, I’ll share how you can start experimenting with and then adopting the architecture advice process depending on whether you currently hold any decision-taking power or not. I’ll also cover early-stage challenges you might face before addressing confidence concerns that you might encounter with this approach.

Far from being weaknesses, these confidence-challenging concerns will help you get to the core needs of your architecture practice and set you up for the additional decision process elements (one essential plus an optional four supporting) that you might need to start those conversations and build trust in the social contract within your organization.

First Steps

All journeys to the architecture advice process start somewhere, but that somewhere depends on what architectural role you currently play in your organization and what decision rights that offers you.

If You Already Have Decision-Taking Power

If you are an architect, you’re in luck. You already have some authority to gather options and take decisions. Given this, the best way to experiment with the advice process is by adopting it openly as a personal practice, telling everyone what you are doing, and sharing your hypothesis that this will help you decide better and raise ...