Common IT Architecture Mistakes

Can anyone guess what one of the most common issues mid to large size organizations have, technically speaking?

Too much technology!

What I mean by this is that organizations acquire or build systems in silos based on the needs of a certain part of the company. Sometimes even within a business unit or division you will find instances of duplicate applications that were initiated by different people within the organization. This usually happens because there is no strategic group that focuses on the overall technical strategy and needs of the organization.

It may be too late for most organizations to start from scratch to build out a comprehensive architecture plan, primarily because it's cost and time prohibitive. But it's never too late to review what you have and ensure that going forward, all technical decisions that are made, are made with the intent to align existing technology with new requirements and to standardize the purchase or creation of all new applications.

Technical architecture should be reviewed at two levels. The hardware level, do I have enough servers, are they networked, do I have redundancy, etc, and the software level which is more what I am referring to, that is, what applications do we already have, what are each of their functions, which parts of the organization use them, which parts of the organization need the same functions and how you can align future enhancements and capabilities so that you can leverage the use of these existing applications. Within this, you should also review the choice of platforms being used for development to ensure that you are not locking yourself into a technology that prohibits integration with other technologies. Here are some article links that will guide you at the strategic level:

The Most Important IT Architecture Issues Today

Sotware Architecture

An Introduction to Software Architecture

Software Architecture: Using Viewpoints and Perspectives

It's almost the end of 2009. If you are considering software enhancements for next year, it is imperative that you take some time to think through your objectives at a strategic level and map out your software development plan going forward.

The economy is certainly stabilizing, but we still don't have money to burn!