Why We Need Architects (and Architecture) on Agile Projects

Keynote, by Rebecca Wirfs-Brock
Tuesday, June 21, 9:00 – 10:30 @ B002

The rhythm of agile software development is to always be working on the next known, small batch of work. Is there a place for software architecture in this style of development? Some people think that software architecture should simply emerge and doesn’t require ongoing attention. But it isn’t always prudent to let the software architecture emerge at the speed of the next iteration. Complex software systems have lots of moving parts, dependencies, challenges, and unknowns. Counting on the software architecture to spontaneously emerge without any planning or architectural investigation is at best risky.
So how should architecting be done on agile projects? It varies from project to project. But there are effective techniques for incorporating architectural activities into agile projects. This talk explains how architecture can be done on agile projects and what an agile architect does.