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The series ‘Agile with architecture’ explores what it takes to create an organisational environment where autonomous teams can thrive, without losing the needed alignment across teams. Architecture, as a discipline, can contribute to the capability of adapting to changes in the context of an organisation.
Having an evolutionary view on organisational development and the corresponding mentality as an architect to support agility, helps to engrain a routine in responding to change. Response at the level where the change has impact. The series presents you some considerations if you would like to get to the routine that enables agility.


Introduction to the Agile with Architecture series (1/7)


Agile has come under fire. Matthew Kern, in his “Agile is Dead” post argues that Agile as a marketing term for selling consultancy services has already peaked. His post spread like wild fire. Matthew Kerns is showing us where it hurts. I recognize the image that is conjured up in the “Stop being so Agile” post.... keep on reading

The architect as explorer on the evolutionary path (2/7)


Agility has become more important than ever for organisations. The arrival of the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1993 was the start of a technology push which has accelerated exponentially over the last few years. A combination of strongly decreasing prices for computational power and data storage and the availability of internet as a... keep on reading

Agile and architecture (3/7)


The focus of the previous articles in this section was the need for agility and the role which architecture and architects play in developing the evolutionary path of the organisation. But what is the relationship between Agile and architecture? The starting point for Agile is the Agile Manifesto. The Agile Manifesto is... keep on reading

An architect’s attitude in an Agile world (4/7)


Working with Agile requires architects to have a specific mindset towards their work. It is not just about doing it in an agile way, but mainly about being agile, as an attitude. On the one hand, you are ensuring agility by providing a framework, on the other hand, you are often a pioneer for change. This is true of the... keep on reading

The impact of the cultural values of agility: architecture thinking (5/7)


“Individuals and interactions above processes and tools” Empowering people means giving them autonomy. But autonomy often leads to coordination problems. To prevent everyone autonomously choosing a different direction, it is necessary to focus the collective energies. The role of architecture in an agile organisation is... keep on reading

Formalizing governance: “Agile with architecture” (6/7)


Working with other people is at the core of every agile methodology. In the previous articles, I’ve explored the role of architecture in setting up this cooperation and how you, as an architect, can, in my opinion, successfully contribute. Cooperation alone is not sufficient however. Imagine that you need to work in a project... keep on reading

Conclusion of the agile with architecture series (7/7)


Agility, based on the principles of the Agile Manifesto is a pragmatic approach to progress in an unknown world. Dave Thomas explains the essence (blog, video): What to do: Find out where you are Take a small step towards your goal Adjust your understanding based on what you learned Repeat How to do it:When faced... keep on reading