Today, we're reviewing the final and only code in the application. It's just that simple. We'll start with the data model.

CREATE TABLE STUFF(
    COLUMN1 TEXT,
    COLUMN2 TEXT,
    COLUMN3 TEXT
    );

As you can see from the enclosed table design, we have generalized the general triple-store to make it more general …

In Architecture Change: Recognizing Conway's Law we looked at the profound influence Conway's Law has on architecture.

Recently I've looked at two gutsy declarations that an architecture was broken. One recognized that a three-tiered architecture was too complex for their needs. The other recognized that the Ontology tools weren't performing …

I've got lots of examples of places where Conway's Law has turned a good idea into a poor implementation. A classic is a data warehouse where there were three project managers, so they broke things up three ways, leading to a crazy mess of dumb duplication.

Countering that, I've recently …

In reflecting on Architecture, I realized that there are some profound differences between "real" architecture and software architecture.

One of the biggest differences is design.

In the earliest days, software was built by very small groups of very bright people. Alan Turing, Brian Kernighan, Dennis Ritchie, Steve Bourne, Ken Thompson …

Common Complaint: "This was the nth time that someone was up in arms that [X] was broken ... PL/SQL that ... has one function that is over 1,500 lines of [code]."

Not a good solution: "Find someway to measure "yucky code"."

Continuing down a path of relatively low value, the …

In an organization with more than one layer of management, the default answer must be "no". Folks get needlessly frustrated by this. But it's a logical consequence of multiple layers of management.

Consider that direction must come down from above. If you're suggesting something up to your manager (or in …

I finally figured out what is so bad about folks who need to "control the message."

Architecture is as much politics as technology. And some folks think that political spin and message control is required. I think it's a mistake because the urge to control the message points up a …

There's a Special Report in the January 15 SDTimes with a headline that bothers me -- a lot. In the print edition, it's called "Can ALM tame the agile beast?". Online it's ALM Tools Evolve in the Face of Agile Processes.

The online title makes a lot more sense than the …

See Paul Glen's opinion piece on Projects and the Ungrounded Middle.

There's a subtle issue here that bothers me. It's the phony narrative arc imposed on a project.

Glen says that "managers talk about beginnings and endings". This is a -- potentially -- phony narrative arc we're told to wrap around a …

It can be a fatal mistake to impose a story arc on a project.

Aristotle's Poetics is a commentary on drama, in which he identified two story arcs that are sure-fire hits: Big Man Brought Down, and Small Man Lifted Up. These are the standard "Change in Fortune" story lines …