Saturday, February 15, 2014

Johnny Cash on Technical Architecure

Yes, that Johnny Cash aka the man in black. He of the deep voice, great songs, San Quentin concert...
I was having a cup of coffee at a local Starbucks yesterday when a friend showed me an "architectural diagram" of the technology components that a customer of his had shown him. Very proudly, all based on open source (because they don't want to pay license fees) they unveiled this masterpiece that they had taken several years to build.

Immediately I was reminded of this terrific song....

http://youtu.be/5GhnV-6lqH8

We architects do need to work on ensuring a few things:
  • Don't overdo the technology
  • Open source may be the way to go, but joining disparate things up can get expensive fast
  • Ensuring that the pieces can connect (bolts and bolt holes anyone 2:05?)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Interesting view, and that song is so appropriate.

I've also used a vehicle metaphor for buying a company and then customizing there software to look like the legacy system. "If you want a Chevy, buy a Chevy - don't buy a Ford and change one piece at a time."

Thanks for sharing.

Terry said...

Johnny was an philosopher-poet-IT Architect. Also recommended is his song ''A Boy Named Sue", an allegorically story about naming your IT components.