When I first heard we were having a talk from Martin Fowler, I assumed that the Eastenders crew were paying us a visit. In fact, we got the enterprise software design guru rather than James Alexandrou’s most famous creation.
In an impressively off-the-cuff talk, he gave his opinion on the history and direction of enterprise software design, which reaffirmed my belief that simple common sense is one of the most valuable qualities in business.
Among my takeaways as a non programmer:
- Make whatever you design reversible, e.g. Object Orientated Programming
- Design (software) and code at the same time
- Stay technology agnostic, keeping to general principles
- Look backwards, not forwards: The role of technology gurus is spreading awareness and take up of existing technologies rather than the dangerous game of trying to second guess where individual technologies will go
- Communication, communication, communication: Find a common language to communicate with your stakeholders and involve them often and early.
- Drink lots of water when you’re speaking…
interesting point about looking backwards. so many try and second guess the next big thing rather than focusing on the wealth of technologies that are out there already and which would improve through wider adoption.
Posted by petep | March 28, 2008, 4:12 pmGreat summary, some good tips there, even if they are common sense mostly.
Posted by Blake8 | April 23, 2008, 12:39 pmgreat work,
Posted by DennyCross | August 4, 2008, 11:45 pm