I got this funny email of a letter sent to an architect (not software architect), but the contents somewhat reflect the expectations from architects in the software industry too.
Enjoy....
Dear Mr Architect,
Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion. My house should have somewhere between two and forty-five bedrooms. Just make sure the plans are such that the bedrooms can be easily added or deleted. When you bring the blueprints to me, I will make the final decision of what I want. Also, bring me the cost breakdown for each configuration so that I can arbitrarily pick one.
Keep in mind that the house I ultimately choose must cost less than the one I am currently living in. Make sure, however, that you correct all the deficiencies that exist in my current house (the floor of my kitchen vibrates when I walk across it, and the walls don't have nearly enough insulation in them).
As you design, also keep in mind that I want to keep yearly maintenance costs as low as possible. This should mean the incorporation of extra-cost features like aluminum, vinyl, or composite siding. (If you choose not to specify aluminum, be prepared to explain your decision in detail.)
Please take care that modern design practices and the latest materials are used in construction of the house, as I want it to be a showplace for the most up-to-date ideas and methods. Be alerted, however, that kitchen should be designed to accommodate, among other things, my 1952 Gibson refrigerator.
To insure that you are building the correct house for our entire family, make certain that you contact each of our children, and also our in-laws. My mother-in-law will have very strong feelings about how the house should be designed, since she visits us at least once a year.
Make sure that you weigh all of these options carefully and come to the right decision. I, however, retain the right to overrule any choices that you make.
Please don't bother me with small details right now. Your job is to develop the overall plans for the house: get the big picture. At this time, for example, it is not appropriate to be choosing the color of the carpet. However, keep in mind that my wife likes blue.
Also, do not worry at this time about acquiring the resources to build the house itself. Your first priority is to develop detailed plans and specifications. Once I approve these plans, however, I would expect the house to be under roof within 48 hours.
While you are designing this house specifically for me, keep in mind that sooner or later I will have to sell it to someone else. It therefore should have appeal to a wide variety of potential buyers.
Please make sure before you finalize the plans that there is a consensus of the population in my area that they like the features this house has. I advise you to run up and look at my neighbor's house he constructed last year.
We like it a great deal. It has many features that we would also like in our new home, particularly the 75-foot swimming pool. With careful engineering, I believe that you can design this into our new house without impacting the final cost.
Please prepare a complete set of blueprints. It is not necessary at this time to do the real design, since they will be used only for construction bids. Be advised, however, that you will be held accountable for any increase of construction costs as a result of later design changes.
You must be thrilled to be working on as an interesting project as this! To be able to use the latest techniques and materials and to be given such freedom in your designs is something that can't happen very often. Contact me as soon as possible with your complete ideas and plans.
PS: My wife has just told me that she disagrees with many of the instructions I've given you in this letter. As architect, it is your responsibility to resolve these differences. I have tried in the past and have been unable to accomplish this. If you can't handle this responsibility, I will have to find another architect.
PPS: Perhaps what I need is not a house at all, but a travel trailer. Please advise me as soon as possible if this is the case.
Hey, I just found out that the video from my session at the "Ready to Launch" event is on the air. I was probably winter sleeping :-)
In the event, 12/12/2005, we announced the launch of Visual Studio Team System 2005, SQL Server 2005 and BizTalk 2006. My talk was a new talk consisting of more than 5 computers for demos - Oh, the logistics...
I was presenting the new Visual Studio Team System 2005 with scenarios for the developer, team leader, project manager, architect, tester, support person (played by Shira Kimhi from Microsoft) and even a Linux/Eclipse developer, played by Yaniv Ben-Atia from Microsoft too.
The demos in the presentation included:
- Linux/Eclipse connectivity to Team Foundation Server - Role play with Yaniv (the Java/Linux developer) who was able to check-in his code to Team System and even mark his completed work items.
- AVICode connectivity with MOM & Team Foundation Server + Team Architect - A demo in which Shira Kimhi played the role of a technician finding a bug at the customer related to my application. AVICode allowed her to open a bug directly as a work item in Team System. Later, I showed how I add management packs and create the pack from Team Architect.
- Testing - Recording Web Tests and playing them with data driven testing, Load & Stress tests and translation of tests into .NET code, and opening bugs with all relevant data automatically attached to the developer.
- Source Control and Build Server - Branching, Shelving, Permissions and Merging - 3 development roles were part of this demo.
To tell the truth, this closing keynotes in front of 1500 attendees was done entirely from grounds up with new demos. The purpose was not to bore with the same functionalities we showed in the past. Also, I wanted to emphasize the integration and openess of Team System.
If only I had this kind of easy-to-use all-in-one life-cycle solution in the past, I would have had more sleeping hours...
The architect role was given a place of honor as a 7th role in the Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) Team Model. Up until the last version of MSF 4.0, the architect role was encapsulated inside the program management and development roles.
This indicates a shift in thinking towards a world where architects are no longer just a side work of the program/development manager, but an integral role with responsibilities, training and goals that has to be taken into consideration.
The role exists as part of two MSF products incorporated in Visual Studio Team System: (1) MSF for Agile Development (2) MSF for CMMI.
Actually when digging into it, I found out that there are a few types of architects defeined including solution architect, infrastructure architect and even a user experience architect.
A new book called "Microsoft Solutions Framework Essentials" from MS Press is about to cover all of this.