Solution Architect Anti-patterns
16 Solution Architect Anti-patterns
by John Spacey
A few common anti-patterns that every solution architect should know.
1. Re-inventing the wheel - Needlessly engineering a proprietary solution to a problem that already has a standard solution.
Example: Building your own web server.
2. Technology Proliferation - Needlessly increasing the complexity of the technology stack.
Example:The organization uses three web server products and you introduce another.
3.Over Engineering - Building complex functionality when a simple solution would suffice.
Example: Introducing a complex workflow product to handle simple approvals.
4. Under Engineering - When the architecture can not support the business requirements.
Example: A solution that can not support business volumes (performance requirements).
5. Stubborn Silo - Refusing to use common solutions without a good reason.
Example: Building point to point integrations instead of using the enterprise ESB.
6. Bleeding Edge - Using the latest hype technology before all the bugs have been worked out.
Example: Expensive hardware that is marginally faster than slightly older models.
7. Silver Bullet - When architects use a single technology for all projects.
Example: Using SOA for everything — even when there is zero chance of service reuse.
8. Ivory Tower - A highbrow or ascetically pleasing design that is not practical.
Example: Spending excessive time designing a elaborate solution to a simple problem.
9. Garden in the Desert - Building a solution on the wrong platform.
Example: Building a complex business application with office productivity software.
10. Vendor Lock-in - Building too much functionality on a proprietary platform.
Example: Using one large vendor for all your systems.
11. Gold Plating - Adding bells and whistles to a system that don't add value.
Example: Optimizing a mobile website for devices that few of your customers own.
12. Politics Oriented Architecture - Allowing office politics to interfere with design decisions.
Example: The CRM has the data you need but your boss has a bad relationship with the CRM team — so you get the data from some downstream system that has stale data.
13. Path Of Least Resistance - A lazy architecture that fails to plan for change — choosing the cheapest implementation.
Example: Choosing point to point integration over ESB because it is easier.
14. Over the Head - Ignoring requirements that the architect fails to understand — assuming they have no impact.
Example: Business requirements specify compliance with a set of regulations — architects ignore the requirement because they don't understand it.
15.Perception Mismanagement - When the solution architect makes promises and then can't deliver.
Example: Promising real time calculations that are almost impossible to calculate in real time.
16. Pattern Happy - Overuse of patterns.
Example: Designs that have factories that do nothing.
