Carpenters vs IT Professionals

It is interesting to follow how different groups of people discuss various challenges in their area of expertise and then compare that to how IT professionals discuss their challenges.

It is not very widespread to see any carpenter try to tell the entire carpenter world that this new cool hammer that just came out is going to replace all their tools they have in the bag.

On the other hand it is extremely likely to watch IT professionals and large consultancy companies jump on bandwagons for new technology and proudly say that this or that technology will take over the world and everyone needs to change and if you don't start using it right now your company will be dead in 10 years and so on, the examples of this is many but just to mention a few:

• Blockchain
• NoSql
• Software Defined Networking

The list can be made longer of course but you get the idea, I am sure.

It is with a mix of amusement and horror I watch the debates in these areas and how many take new technology almost as a religion, they try to fit it into every new solution just for the sake of using totally disregarding if the technology is a good fit for the use case at hand or if it will provide value to the business.

My point of view is and always has been the following:

Make sure your toolbox is big enough so that you can achieve the following:

• The simplest solution for every use case.
• The most scalable solution for every use case.
• The fastest solution for every use case.

But the overarching thoughts should always be a proper RAR Architecture, simplify things to the extreme, this will benefit you many times over and the longer you use the solution the more it will benefit you for the following reasons:

• Easier to extend
• Easier to scale
• Easier to replace

Many might be shocked about the last point, but we have to understand that nothing lasts forever, and you don't want to be the one hanging on to a system that has seen its best days, and simple systems are far easier to replace than complex ones.

How many times have you heard someone say, "Oh this system is so easy to replace that we cannot do it" vs "Oh this system is so complex it's almost impossible to replace"

Think about it and then think about what you think suits your company the best and where you want to be going forwards.

Simplicity always wins in the end, meaning the one who has the knowledge to create the simplest solution for any given task will win most of the times, there are of course some solutions where this does not apply but those are not very common and should be treated as exceptions and not the norm.

This is where RAR Architectures come into play, by utilizing Rip And Replace Architectures you can ensure that you are able to evolve your business at the required speed and keep on providing value to the business on an ongoing basis and not get stuck in a huge monolith system that is next to impossible to replace.

If you are interested in knowing more about how RAR Architectures can provide value to your company feel free to contact us at [email protected] and we will also be putting RAR Reference Architectures in our website www.kofeconsulting.com in the coming months.