Co-design: the secret to a New, Modern Architecture

For over 20 years, we've seen EA teams grow and decline according to the cycles of investment and sponsorship in their organisations. The one deciding factor is how effectively they capture the respect and trust of the consumers of their services. They must understand that few stakeholders are interested in 'architecture' per se. They are interested in what effective architecture can bring that creates value for them and the organisation. Enter modern EA and co-design.

Modern Architecture

In contrast to traditional EA, Modern Architecture takes a different approach. It is set up as an internal services organisation, looking to understand the lived experience and real needs of the consumers of their services. It is set up for speed of delivery, and enabling domain autonomy. Its documents are relevant and concise and remain current through constant iteration with various architecture stakeholders, such as engineers and delivery team leaders. The governance model is more about guidance, allowing engineers to self-attest and verify solutions. Cycle times reduce through iterative architectures and distributed governance that optimises flow, reducing the likelihood of rework and regret spending.

One step further: Co-Design

Taking this a step further, FromHereOn’s approach to Modern Architecture approach uses co-design methods to strengthen the understanding and buy-in from internal consumers of architectural services.

We aim to incorporate all stakeholders' diverse perspectives. Our approach to co-design is a collaborative undertaking in which we speak to stakeholders across the entire organisation (insofar as they’re consumers of architecture), considering their needs, experiences, expectations and evaluating their ideas. Because of this inclusive, pragmatic approach, business designs are likely to be more successful in production. 

In our approach, we bring co-design inside the organisation to improve operations and IT, modernising how staff interact, building greater understanding and user acceptance of business changes and the role of architecture generally.

If your organisation thinks architecture needs support and renewal, reach out. From here on, things could be different.