2 Minute IT Architecture
Clear writing on IT architecture, readable in a couple of minutes
Short essays on the craft of the architect: on services and integration, on making decisions, on working with the business, and on what A.I. is doing to our work. Written by Hans Blok, IT architect.
Latest article
Which type of service do we actually mean?
Architects aim for a Ubiquitous Language, yet call services all sorts of things. Four categories as a shared language.
Architecture domains
Seven domains the articles are grouped by. Pick one to read on.
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The architect's role
What the craft involves, which skills count and where the architect makes the difference.
3 articles
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Strategy and organisation
Agility, transformation and the constraints that govern the flow of work.
3 articles
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Working with the business
The conversation between IT and the rest of the organisation, and where it breaks down.
3 articles
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Applications and services
Service types, responsibilities and the management of APIs.
2 articles
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Integration and patterns
Proven solutions for recurring integration problems.
1 article
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Practices and decisions
Making and recording decisions, and delivering smaller and more often.
2 articles
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Technology and A.I.
What new technology really changes about our work, and what it does not.
3 articles
Recent articles
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The Vibe Architect: speed with clear boundaries
A.I. makes exploration faster than ever. How does the architect stay responsible for what is decided next?
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Post-deterministic IT
Thirty years in IT, and still the paradigm shifts. What changes when the computer is no longer always right.
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Silence please
A discussion that gets close to the heart of it and then derails. On the power of silence and the right question.
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What can I do to become a good IT architect?
Engineers who want to become architects ask for advice. Which skills really count, and is it meetings all day?
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Does your business also not understand much of this?
Involving the business rarely works when things get hard. What Amazon shows about who should be making the decisions.
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Do you also prevent yourself from being double insured?
Skiing without double insurance. On formalising API management once the number of APIs starts to grow.
About this site
This site collects short pieces on IT architecture as it looks in practice: at municipalities and other organisations, between technology and governance. No methodology and no product story, but observations from thirty years in IT, in pieces you can read between two meetings.