Added Our Approach To Architecture

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+---
+title: Our Approach to Architecture
+date: 2024-10-15 11:09:00 Z
+categories:
+- Architecture
+tags:
+- architecture
+- principles
+summary: This is the first in a series of articles where we outline our approach to
+  consultancy through the lens of principles that we have honed through our experience
+  delivering complex, mission critical programmes. In this post we define our approach
+  to Architecture...
+author: jheward
+---
+
+In this article we are publishing Scott Logic’s approach to architecture, and how we avoid common pitfalls. This is the first in a series of articles we will be publishing that define our approach to IT consultancy through the lens of principles we have honed over our nearly 20 years of delivering complex, critical change for the world's largest [financial](https://www.scottlogic.com/our-work/case-study-saxo-bank) [institutions ](https://www.scottlogic.com/our-work/case-study-nordpool)and [government](https://www.scottlogic.com/our-work/scottish-government-full-service-programme-delivery) [organisations](https://www.scottlogic.com/our-work/scottish-government-delivering-scotaccount), and that we work by across our consultancy services and roles.
+
+Deliver large IT change in to complex, mission critical environments is hard. Too often there are stories of large budget or time overruns, or even total failure to deliver IT projects. Whilst there are myriad reasons for these failures, in many cases these failures can be attributed to poorly implemented architecture.
+
+We believe Architecture has a two-fold purpose. Firstly, it is about helping an organisation do the ‘right’ thing in any given context. Secondly it is about ensuring that once an organisation has made a choice to do a particular thing that it is executed in the ‘right’ way.
+
+We recognise that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to architecture. Our architects are experienced in quickly assessing the context and finding the right combination of methodology, tools and communication styles that work for the project and for your organisation.
+
+**Our architecture principles**
+
+**1) Context is King**
+
+Knowing why a change is being implemented and the environment it is being implemented in is vital to ensure that an optimal solution can be designed.
+
+Ensuring that we have a deep understanding of the business drivers, priorities and budgets (time and cost) provides clear guidance of where the business value is and enables us to ensure that solutions remain aligned with delivering business value.
+
+Understanding the organisation – its strategic goals, risk appetite, capabilities, structure and policies provides a guide to ensure that solutions that are designed fit well within the existing organisation.
+
+Finally understanding the technical context – the existing estate, how the change relates to it, and broader architectural principles ensures that solutions are pragmatic and aligned with the technical direction of the organisation.
+
+**2) Bring everyone on the Journey**
+
+It is important that all stakeholders are aligned to enable maximum business value to be delivered. As Architects we act as a translator between business, technical, product, design and delivery stakeholders ensuring that the impact of decisions is understood by all, from their perspective.
+
+We believe in a one-team approach where Architects should be closely integrated with stakeholders for key disciplines and able to provide iterative designs and feedback, working in the open to integrate Architecture into the whole delivery cycle.
+
+**3) Principled, but Pragmatic**
+
+Far too often we see Architects in ivory towers who are too removed from the realities of delivery who rigidly stick to principles and heavyweight governance processes. Whilst one facet of Architecture is to ensure adherence to principles and governance processes, this cannot be at the expense of delivery progress.
+
+We recognise that principles need to be balanced with pragmatism. With Architects championing the technical vision, but willing to be flexible to allow delivery to progress, reacting to new information and changes rapidly, and making intentional, informed decisions on designs and plans to allow value to be delivered iteratively, but remain aligned with strategic goals.
+
+**4) Just enough Architecture**
+
+We prefer to operate in an Agile by Default way. Just in the way it can be counter-productive to have too much governance, and ‘big up front design’, it can also be risky to have not enough analysis and design before implementation – it's cheaper to change things on paper than after they are built.
+
+We believe it's important to understand how much Architecture is needed based on the organisational and project context. We aim ‘right size’ the governance and design activities so that Architecture can be an enabler of change, not a blocker of progress, and find the right balance where Architecture is used to govern architecturally significant decisions, and delegate other decisions to implementation teams to enable rapid, but controlled delivery.
+
+**5) The devil is in the detail**
+
+It is vital as architects that we see the bigger picture in the context of change. However, it is easy to get lost looking upwards and forget about the implementation detail. We often see Architects that lack the deep domain and/or technical knowledge required to ensure that solutions designed are efficient to implement, whose logical components and interfaces map closely to available solutions and interfaces.
+
+We believe it is vital that architects have the skills to consider both the wider context and understand implementation details where it matters, so that designed solutions are implementable and that trust can be built with implementation teams.
+
+**6) The right tool for the job**
+
+We recognise that whilst there are many problems with well-defined solutions, there are many subtleties and unique challenges that exist that require creative problem solving. There is no one-size fits all, and no perfect solution. Every choice is about balancing trade-offs.
+
+We believe that simplicity has myriad benefits, and we always aim to select the right tools (within organisational constraints) for the job to deliver the simplest viable solution. This is why we are technology and vendor agnostic, and step beyond the hype, so we can build the right solution for you unencumbered by vendor and technology bias.
+
+**7) Continuous Improvement**
+
+As Architects we are champions for good design (pragmatically balanced with making progress. As organisations go through the change journey, we use our deep technical expertise and understanding of the broader context to continuously identify areas for improvement to make small wins as we go, that deliver both immediate, and longer-term business value.