Why to document high level information architecture
Why we are documenting higher level architecture? Isn't the high level too meaningless for doing anything with it? Are these high level exercises ever going to be successful?Well - I disagree - it is not a waste of time - and this is why:
- it is a method to communicate (mainly with users) - so it should be simple and related to business language. If you can pin-point easily the weaknesses, bottlenecks in your architecture, than it is easier to get approval for improvement.
- it is a way of documenting the high level context, which helps positioning the system - so it should not contain detailed content. High level position will make it easier for systems to find relations to others and helps avoiding overlaps or duplication
- it is a way of helping later stages of development or later projects understanding the system & its context quickly -
- it is a way of helping portfolio management - usually business users are very functionality oriented and therefore there is insufficient appetite for more fundamental integration issues. High level pictures help making the case for this.
These benefits also point at the main requirements for architecture: so it should be short - no details - and it should be easy and quickly accessible
So the end result may look easy, but to actually develop it is quite hard. It is important to focus at the key messages ... And that's still an art (which is rarely covered by case tools).
Labels: architecture, meta data
posted by Evert Ruijs @ 11:46 AM
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