Surfing the Wave of Emergent Design

Bernard O’LearyCallPlus Group Limited

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“The power to make buildings beautiful lies in

each of us already.” – Christopher Alexander

Why is Design Important?

ThemesPlanning to fail vs. failing to plan

Collective brain-power vs. design “hero”

Learning ObjectivesIncremental experimentation and failure as a design strategyCoping with fatigue; design adjustment and refactoringHow to assess what level of design is appropriate, whenCapture the collective design-oriented brainpower of a team

Perfectionismvs.

Experimentation and Failure

Architectural Experimentation and Failure“Think global act local” appliesMaintain big picture as an overall objectiveBalance level of process and design control against nature of businessTest/fail early; rule out non-viable options and mitigate riskMaintain design pivot as an option

BigDesign

UpFront

- Review

EmergentDesign -Review

Agile DevelopmentThe Theory

Agile DevelopmentThe Reality

Why’s That?

Some Sprints have a greater design component; some lesserSome functionality requires more infrastructural workWe’re designing, testing and refactoring as we goWe’re focussed on customer value as opposed to generic throughput

MVP

Emergent DesignEach change in direction represents a cost

Cost is in design adjustment and associated refactoringIncremental design cost is incorporated with each iteration

Design adjustment and refactoring is uncomfortable, perhaps scaryLike anything, the more you do it, the better you get

The alternative is scarier – BDUFHelp is available…

TeamBrain

Power

Collective brain-power outsmarts individualPromote discussion and experimentationSelf-organising team as a super-computer

Architect as a catalyst and curator of ideas

A Design-Oriented Super-Computer

Closing ThoughtsCollective responsibilityPlan to failNo silver bullet

Thanks for listening…Bernard O’LearyCallPlus Group LimitedFollow me @bernardoleary

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