New Book Review: "97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know"
New book review for 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know: Collected Wisdom from the Experts, edited by Richard Monson-Haefel, O'Reilly Media, 2009:
There must be something not insignificant about the number "97", as a search for "97 things" retrieves multiple results here, and the follow-up books planned for this series (on project management, etc) have not yet been published. Quite honestly, this reviewer initially had low expectations for this book for various reasons, the least significant reason being the title. One related reason was use of the term "software architect", because this reviewer has both heard and read countless arguments on what "architect" actually means in this space.
While some of the authors here allude to the definition of "architect", the one place the reader should probably expect an explanation on this matter is within an introductory chapter or preface. The preface, however, simply indicates that "software architects occupy a unique space in the world of IT. They are expected to know the technologies and software platforms on which their organizations run as well as the business that they serve…a great software architect needs to master both sides of the architect's coin: business and technology". But this statement does not even attempt to define architect.
Instead, after reading this book the reader will likely leave with an understanding of a broad range of architect responsibilities communicated by dozens of different architects with varying levels of experience across numerous business industries. In the mind of this reviewer, this aspect might be one of the greatest strengths of this book because even though the 53 authors will probably generally agree on the definition of "architect", the degree to which their thoughts subtly differ on this aspect somewhat reflects what one will find in the workplace, especially when working as a consultant. The formula for this book just works.