Here's how you can effectively select and evaluate new technology for system architecture.

In Architecture it's preferable to start with the vision of the future. Where does the business want to be, how does it look in the future. Starting from your existing picture it's needed at some point but it is the old picture: we know what we get today, it's no news. So first conceptualize and sell to management the picture of the future and refine it until they accept it. This is exactly like a building architect will do, will design the new place as per the vision and end goal. There will be negotiation, re work, lots of convincing to do in that future view. This is a main architecture task. Then you look at the as-is only enough to work backwards, from the vision to the as-is. It's like building the road backwards: from end to start

When you do assess your application make sure it's running smoothly now and ready for whatever the future brings. below simple guide to help you do just that: 1. Find the Pain Points: Figure out what's bothering your system. Is it sluggish performance, trouble handling lots of users, or maybe security worries? 2. Check Scalability: Think about how your system will grow. Will you need to handle more users or data? Make sure your setup can handle it without breaking a sweat. 3. Mind Security: Keep your system safe from bad actors. Check your security measures to make sure they're up to snuff and protect against things like hacks or data leaks 4. Look at Performance: Measure system performance

It is always a good point to start with a state of the current AS-IS and know where we are going, what the future TO-BE is. Therefore we need a Big Picture of our vision of current and future architecture to subsequently measure the impact of the change along with its risks, investments and costs. Try to think in Architecture Concepts Joining a 360 degrees, connecting Funcional Capabilities & Documentation. Let’s Go !!!

When assessing needs you may need to look beyond the scope of the current project. Business may grow, requirement may change and any decencies may be replaces or modified. Consider what is core and what could be extended. Legal and geolocation restriction of potential users, and be open-minded that technologies will develop and change as well. With Native cloud architecture, you could start small, and scale as you need, yet your core architecture may need to support it by design. Consider multi-instance deployment, layered architecture and extension points, so that you don't need to rewrite your code in case we switch database, storage or AI provider, for example.

Researching options is a challenge, but with persistence & hard work, confident decisions can be made Lowest Implementation: You are adopting this tool for a requirement; define that requirement & solve it with the least implementation possible to save cost & avoid scope creep Integration: Verify your system will function in the existing System of Systems & not disrupt existing capabilities Software Price: open source & free are better Hardware Price: Balance quality & cost; hardware is expensive Community: Are the manufacturers dependable in maintenance & operations training? Is the development community trustworthy? Capability Testing: Determine & analyze the capabilities across potential tools; test workflows & observe functionality

On the Architecture TO-BE create a Traceability Matrix between the Functional Capabilities, Software Components and necessary Technical Platform. Regarding the software components in the company, we have to see which ones are expanded and which ones are new and describe their purpose. Among the possible Technical Solutions, both platform and techniques used for development, list the options already available and the new ones if, for example, you have not used them yet, such as Generative AI. Therefore we do rely on existing Architectural References against the missing ones. Of the missing ones we will have a set of possible ones that will have to be analyzed with RFIs, PoCs and Pilots in subsequent phases.

While considering well-established and mature technologies reduces the risk, evaluate the risk of using emerging technology if the benefits supersede the risk. Looking back into technology trends - many of the mature technologies no longer exist or no longer dominate the market.

When choosing new technologies for your system, consider these key factors: 1. How Established Is It? Look at how long the technology has been around and if it's known for being reliable. 2. Community Support: Check if there's a lively community around the technology. 3. What Else Does It Offer? Think about what else comes with the technology, like extra tools, libraries, or frameworks. 4. What's the Cost? Consider the total cost of using the technology, including any fees or ongoing expenses. Make sure it's worth it for your budget. 5. Learn From Others: Listen to what others have to say about the technology. Reviews and feedback from users and developers can give you valuable insights.

To evaluate fit for new technology in system architecture: 1. Compatibility Check: Ensure the technology integrates well with existing systems. 2. Scalability: Assess if it supports future growth and increased loads. 3. Performance: Test for reliability, speed, and efficiency under expected conditions. 4. Cost-Benefit Analysis: Compare the costs against the benefits and potential ROI. 5. User Feedback: Gather input from stakeholders and end-users to determine usability and acceptance. 6. Vendor Support: Evaluate the vendor’s support, documentation, and community resources.

In IT, as in IT, technology progresses at the speed of IT. In other words - without growing your team skills you may be left behind. That is not to say that you should jump on every new technology out there, yet don't let learning curve dictate your best choices. After all, Lambda functions do not support Fortran, Cobol or PL/1.

To test thoroughly for selecting and evaluating new technology in system architecture: 1. Create Test Scenarios: Develop comprehensive scenarios that mimic real-world use cases and potential edge cases. 2. Conduct Performance Testing: Measure response times, throughput, and resource utilization under various loads. 3. Perform Security Audits: Assess vulnerabilities and ensure compliance with security standards. 4. Evaluate Stability: Run long-duration tests to check for memory leaks, crashes, and other stability issues. 5. User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Involve end-users to test usability and gather feedback. 6. Iterate Based on Results: Use test outcomes to refine configurations and address any identified issues.

You can conduct thorough testing of new technologies to ensure that they meet your requirements and expectations before making a full commitment. 1. Know What You Want: First, figure out what you want to test. Decide what's important. 2. Create Test Situations: Make up different scenarios to see how the technology works in different situations. 3. Get a Test Area: Set up a special place to test the technology where you won't mess up anything important. 4. Put It Under Pressure: Push the technology to its limits to see if it can handle a lot of work. Keep adding more work until it starts having problems. 5. Check for Security Holes: Look for any ways bad people could break into the technology. 6. Keep an Eye on Test Results.

Learn how to effectively select and evaluate new technology for system architecture. To evaluate technical architecture, architects need to understand component and integration health, redundancies, and opportunities for consolidation. The quality of business function support is crucial. Stay tuned for insights on redundancies and business function support. Here's a key point: every component in the technical architecture ranges from being an asset to potentially hindering IT and business areas.

After tons of research, evaluating various options and finalising the testing strategy. It is now time for the Integration plan Laying out a detailed plan for integration with proper milestones helps us with focused development. 1) Breaking a big project into actionable and achievable Milestones. 2) Some of the common milestones that should be included are a) Enhanced Architecture b) High-Level and Low-Level Design c) API Specification d) UX Designs e) Database Schema f) Security and Performance Testing, g) Rollout - RollBack - RollForward strategies. h) Documentation - Design Doc, API DOC, Standard Operating Procedure ) i) Alerts and Notifications 3) Stakeholder Communication and Alignment

As a rule of thumb, minimize dependencies on integrated systems as much as you can. Have your own data model, and integrate into it from outside of your core processes. This will allow you to support different providers without changing your code. When consuming services - prefer using an infrastructure layer to buffer between your system and the external provider. You could deploy and change your provider by replacing or updating the adapter layer only.

Define the new Reference Architecture that Has to be respect to implements projects. Eg. For GenAI you needs agents (how templates), orchestration , sources, RAG, chatbots,… and also important testing/quality grounding, ranking, … All Structures & Process &. Norms must be specified in the Target Reference Architecture according Use Cases. AI Solutions Architects use this to guide & implement with rest of Engineers the Solutions.

Following the completion of the implementation of the technology, it ought to be evaluated on a consistent basis in relation to the objectives that were formulated. It is important to keep an open mind to the possibilities of making adjustments and improvements that are pertinent in response to ongoing feedback and evaluation of performance.

Adding new tech to your system is just the start of something big! But to make sure it fits well and keep an eye on it all the time! 1?? Watching how it Works: Check how your system is doing with the new stuff. It helps you see if it's making things better or worse. 2?? Listening to Users: Your users know best! Pay attention to what they say about the new tech. It helps you know if they like it or if there's stuff to fix. 3?? Spotting Problems Early: Catching problems before they blow up is super important! Special tools can help you find issues before they cause big trouble. 4?? Always Getting Better: Keep improving! Keep an eye on important things, so you can make the new tech even cooler and keep up with what your team needs.

After the Incremental / Big Bang Rollout, we need to plan for hypercare support, during which our major focus area has to be 1) Monitoring the new system and keeping a close watch on alerts and notifications 2) Dashboard - CPU and Memory Metrics, Cache Hits - Misses, DB Storage and Query Performance, Locks, Memory Leaks, Latency Metrics, etc 3) Keep a tap on customer bugs, security and performance bugs and evaluate if it's due to the new changes rolled out. 4) Engage with stakeholders if they are seeing any improvements or degradations.

A few things I would like to share here are 1) Have clear and well-defined requirements and are aligned with all the stakeholders. 2) Follow and always lean on foundation design concepts like CAP, SOLID, BASE, ACID and KISS principles. 3) A big "NO" on over-architecting, very complex systems and systems should be able to extend it's capabilities 4) Cost monitoring and Cost Optimization. 5) Look out for instances of Scaling issues, Memory Leads, Latency, and Performance degradation.

To effectively select and evaluate new technology for system architecture: 1. Define Requirements: Identify specific needs and objectives. 2. Research: Conduct thorough research on available technologies and shortlist promising options. 3. Assess Compatibility: Ensure new technology integrates with existing systems and supports future scalability.