Posts

• A Technical Debt Fairy Tale - Once upon a time, there was a lead developer called Annabel. She worked for vakation.com, a travel booking site on the Internet. She was the tech lead of the devops […]
• Architectural design with autonomous teams - According to the agile manifesto, the best architectures emerge from self-organizing teams. The word emerge here has received some criticism, since it seems to imply that this happens automagically (it […]
• Architecture: the outside view - Last month, I was asked to give a second opinion on some key architectural decisions and the way they were working out in a client’s IT landscape. Such architecture assessments […]
• Between the Waterfall Wasteland and the Agile Outback - Eltjo Poort, IEEE Software, vol. 37, no. 01, pp. 92-97, 2020.Agilists and architects too often talk past each other. In this issue’s “The Pragmatic Designer,” guest columnist Eltjo Poort helps […]
• A Map to Waterfall Wasteland and the Agile Outback - Over the past 18 months, we have been iteratively developing a way to assess maturity with respect to architecture in an agile context. We did this together with a number […]
• Managing Technical Debt - Keep your eyes open for a great new book on technical debt management by Philippe Kruchten, Ipek Ozkaya and Rod Nord. And for the evening seminar we will organize when […]
• Value-driven Architecture Documentation - “[We value] working software over comprehensive documentation” features proudly on the front page of the Agile Manifesto. Further down on the page, the authors explain that they do not mean […]
• Move slow and fix things - Four years ago, Facebook changed its famous motto “Move fast and break things” to “Move fast with stable infra” (not quite as catchy?). Most people associate the original motto with […]
• Opportunity Cost in the Technical Debt Business Case - A few years back, I discussed the business case for reducing technical debt, and the importance of accounting for the risk exposure in that business case. However, there is another […]
• What happened on SATURN 2018 - The annual SATURN conference is usually one of the highlights of my professional year, and SATURN 2018 was no exception. This year’s edition took place in Plano, TX, and presented […]
• Architecture is Context - For architects designing complex solutions, a well-documented set of requirements can never be the sole basis of the architecture. Architects have to undestand why these specific requirements are relevant to […]
• Shortening the architectural feedback loop - One of the things architects can learn from the Agile mindset is the importance of short feedback loops. The quicker an architect receives feedback on their output, the faster they […]
• Dutch summary of IEEE Software Column on Just Enough Anticipation - I wrote a summary in Dutch on computable.nl of my IEEE Software Column on Just Enough Anticipation.
• My SATURN 2017 session on Agile and traditional architeture lifecycles - My SATURN 2017 session on Agile and traditional architeture lifecycles
• SATURN 2017 - Another great SATURN (SEI Architecture Technology User Network) Conference in Denver last week. The cast of interesting and directly applicable topics was led by two main characters: microservices and event […]
• Architecting in a digital world - Architecting in a digital world is about anticipating and accommodating change. See my blog post on cgi.com.
• Architecting transient solutions - When I teach architecture classes, I increasingly run into architects who never architect a “system”. They do all the things architects do: analyse stakeholder needs, identify ways to address these […]
• Just Enough Anticipation: Architect Your Time Dimension - Eltjo Poort, IEEE Software, vol.33, no.6, pp. 11-15, Nov.-Dec. 2016A bit of planning is indispensable to anticipate events that will affect your software’s risk profile. Traditional architectural planning emphasizes the […]
• Architectuur krijgt nieuwe kans (Dutch) - Eltjo Poort, Computable, 20 September 2016Official link ‘The best architectures, requirements and designs emerge from self-organizing teams’, is wellicht het meest misbruikte principe uit het Agile Manifesto. Door de jaren […]
• Agile Architecture Roadmapping - My agile architecture roadmapping talk at SATURN 2016 can now be viewed on the SEI’s YouTube channel.
• SATURN 2016 – part 2 - This is the second and last part of my SATURN 2016 conference report. Since I posted the first part, the organizers have posted video recordings of many of the best […]
• SATURN 2016 – part 1 - This year’s SATURN (Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Architecture Technology User Network Conference) was held in San Diego from May 2-5. Compared to last year, the geographical context was much improved […]
• Linda Northrop Software Architecture Award - The Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon has selected me as the winner of this year’s Linda Northrop Software Architecture Award. I feel honored to receive this award from the […]
• “Agilizing the Architecture Department” recent talk at Nedap - The other talks and panel discussion at Life at Nedap.
• Architecting in a Solution Costing Context: Early Experiences with Solution-Based Estimating - Eltjo R. Poort, Eric van der Vliet, Software Architecture (WICSA), 2015 12th Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on , vol., no., pp.127-130, 4-8 May 2015Organizations require cost estimates for delivering and operating […]
• SATURN 2015 presentation videos on-line - Videos of many SATURN 2015 presentations are now available to view on-line.
• Time as a First Class Architectural Concept - Architects in the digital world often compare themselves to architects in the construction world. The metaphor works on many levels: architects in both worlds are responsible for conceptual (and structural) […]
• What happened on SATURN 2015 - Another great SATURN  (the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Architecture Technology User Network) conference in Baltimore this year. The setting was a bit surreal – due to social unrest and a […]
• Software Architect is the best job - Software Architect, once again rated the best job in America by CNN/Money. I can tell you from experience, outside of America it’s pretty great too.
• Video: Costing View of Architecture - Watch my Saturn 2014 talk on the Costing View or Architecture on YouTube:
• Driving Agile Architecting with Cost and Risk - Eltjo R. Poort, IEEE Software, vol.31, no. 5, pp. 20-23, Sept.-Oct. 2014Five pieces of advice can help architects become more effective in an agile world without having to implement new […]
• How DevOps impacts architecture - DevOps is an approach to IT that radically alters the traditional relationship between development, maintenance and operation of software. The traditional separation between Dev and Opsbrings with it a substantial […]
• Impressions of SATURN 2014 - SATURN (the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Architecture Technology User Network (SATURN) Conference) has become my favorite annual professional event. What a great mix of architects, developers and researchers, and what a […]
• Survey says… solution architecture works! - We all know that solution architecture adds value to business and IT solutions, but as Philippe Kruchten writes on his blog, we sometimes have trouble quantifying the benefits towards (project) […]
• The business case for technical debt reduction - When I teach solution architecture classes, technical debt is always a very popular topic among practicing architects. Technical debt is a metaphor that transposes the concepts of loan and interest to […]
• Architecture versus Design - In our architecture classes, we always spend some time discussing the difference between architecture and design. We say that architecture is a set of design decisions, so is there even […]
• Architecture can be agile, too! - Ever since the introduction of “Agile” around the turn of the century, people have wondered how to combine agility with architecture. The difficulty of this combination is due in part […]
• What happened on Saturn - Last week, I had the priviledge of attending the Saturn 2013 conference in Minneapolis. Those who follow @eltjopoort on Twitter may have already seen some posts about it, but I […]
• Assumption-free architecture documentation - When reviewing architectures, I sometimes run into architecture description documents that contain long lists of assumptions. There are some negative connotations associated with assumptions. They often read as a “list […]
• How much architecture up-front? - I recently read an interesting book chapter by Barry Boehm about what is the right amount of architecture to do  “up-front” before committing to the architecture. Boehm analyses his project database […]
• RCDA to become a CGI offering - Listen to Bett and Russ of architecturecast.net interviewing me about RCDA. Update: download the white-paper on RCDA as an agile solution architecture approach. This week, we set in motion the process that will […]
• Fast and slow thinking for architects - I recently read “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman. A leading psychologist and Nobel laureate in economics, Kahneman has condensed a lifetime of discovery and insights into how people […]
• Issues Dealing with Non-Functional Requirements across the Contractual Divide - Eltjo Poort, Peter H.N. De With, Hans van Vliet, Andrew Key, Joint 10th Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture & 6th European Conference on Software Architecture (WICSA/ECSA 2012)Agreement on Non-Functional […]
• RCDA: Architecting as a Risk- and Cost Management Discipline - Eltjo Poort, Hans van Vliet, Journal of Systems and Software, May 2012We propose to view architecting as a risk- and cost management discipline. This point of view helps architects identify […]
• Improving Solution Architecting Practices - Eltjo R. Poort, Doctoral Thesis, VU University, AmsterdamAs the presence of Information Technology increases, so grows the impact of the design decisions shaping the IT solutions that touch our lives. […]
• How Architects See Non-Functional Requirements: Beware of Modifiability - Eltjo Poort, Inge van de Weerd, Hans van Vliet, Nick Martens, 18th International Working Conference Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality (REFSQ 2012)This paper presents the analysis and key findings […]
• Een risico- en kostengedreven aanpak voor architectuur - Eltjo Poort, Hans van Vliet, Informatie, November 2011Architectuur is te beschouwen als een discipline die gedreven wordt door risico’s en kosten. Risico- en kostenmanagement is dan het primaire businessdoel van […]
• Architecting as a Risk- and Cost Management Discipline - Eltjo Poort, Hans van Vliet, Ninth Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture, Boulder, CO, USA, June 20-24 2011, ISBN: 978-0-7695-4351-2We propose to view architecting as a risk- and cost management […]
• Successful Architectural Knowledge Sharing: Beware of Emotions - Eltjo Poort, Agung Pramono, Michiel Perdeck, Viktor Clerc, Hans van Vliet, 5th International Conference on the Quality of Software Architectures, QoSA 2009, East Stroudsburg, PA, USA, June 24-26, 2009, Proceedings. […]
• The Influence of CMMI on Establishing an Architecting Process - Eltjo Poort, Herman Postema, Peter H.N. De With, Andrew Key, Third International Conference on Quality of Software Architectures, QoSA 2007, Medford, MA, USA, July 11-23, 2007, Revised Selected Papers. Lecture […]
• IT-architect en manager: alien versus predator? - Eltjo Poort, Pierre America, CIO Magazine, March 2007Onbegrip tussen managers en IT-architecten leidt vaak tot moeizame projecten en innovaties. Managers zien architecten als idealisten. Architecten achten managers kortzichtig. Gelukkig zijn […]
• Successful Architecture for Short Message Service Center - Eltjo Poort, Hans Adriaanse, Arie Kuijt, Peter H.N. De With, Fifth Working IEEE / IFIP Conference on Software Architecture (WICSA 2005), 6-10 November 2005, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USAThis paper presents and […]
• Resolving Requirement Conflicts through Non-Functional Decomposition - Eltjo Poort, Peter H.N. De With, 4th Working IEEE / IFIP Conference on Software Architecture (WICSA 2004), 12-15 June 2004, Oslo, Norway.A lack of insight into the relationship between (non-) […]