By OTN ArchBeat on Jul 24, 2008
Comparisons between physical architecture and digital architecture are inevitable. But in the first installment of a promised series of posts on the Approach Alliance blog, Mary Beijleveld offers a clear explanation of software architecture and the role of the architect, including this insight:
There is a major difference between ‘building’ architecture and software (system) architecture: A lot of decisions made in construction are hard to change. It is very difficult to go back and change your basement, although it is possible. Software is not limited by physics; buildings are. Change to software is limited by imagination, by design, by organizational bias.
Ultimately, software architecture is about change. Envisioning it. Understanding it. Implementing it. So the most important tool a software architect can wield is everything from the neck up.