This review is about The Software Architect Elevator by Gregor Hohpe from O'Reilly.
I don’t think it’s necessary to introduce Gregor Hohpe. I’m a big fan, having read Enterprise Integration Patterns, and I’ve recommended the book ever since. When I spoke at the Software Architecture Gathering in 2024, I was fortunate enough to meet him and purchase this book. I’m the happy owner of a signed copy.
Modern architects don’t try to be the smartest people in the room–they make everyone else smarter. They ride the Architect Elevator from the penthouse, where the business strategy is set, to the engine room, where the enabling technologies are implemented. They shun popular buzzwords in favor of decision discipline and clear communication across levels.
Facts
- 41 chapters
- €54.81
- 365 pages
- The author has previously co-authored Enterprise Integration Patterns, of which I’m a huge fan
Chapters
- Architects
- The Architect Elevator
- Movie-Star Architects
- Architects Live in the First Derivative
- Enterprise Architect or Architect in the Enterprise?
- An Architect Stands on Three Legs
- Making Decisions
- Question Everything
- Architecture
- Is This Architecture?
- Architecture Is Selling Options
- Every System Is Perfect…
- Code Fear Not!
- If You Never Kill Anything, You Will Live Among Zombies
- Never Send a Human to Do a Machine’s Job
- If Software Eats the World, Better Use Version Control!
- A4 Paper Doesn’t Stifle Creativity
- The IT World Is Flat
- Your Coffee Shop Doesn’t Use Two-Phase Commit
- Communication
- Explaining Stuff
- Show the Kids the Pirate Ship!
- Writing for Busy People
- Emphasis Over Completeness
- Diagram-Driven Design
- Drawing the Line
- Sketching Bank Robbers
- Software Is Collaboration
- Organizations
- Reverse-Engineering Organizations
- Control Is an Illusion
- They Don’t Build 'Em Quite Like That Anymore
- Black Markets Are Not Efficient
- Scaling an Organization
- Slow Chaos Is Not Order
- Governance Through Inception
- Transformation
- No Pain, No Change!
- Leading Change
- Economies of Speed
- The Infinite Loop
- You Can’t Fake IT
- Money Can’t Buy Love
- Who Likes Standing in Line?
- Thinking in Four Dimensions
- Epilogue: Architecting IT Transformation
- All I Have to Offer Is the Truth
Pros and cons
You might have noticed that there are lots of chapters. Yet, the book isn’t "big". Thus, each chapter is between 5 and 10 pages. To me, it’s a big plus: I can focus much better on a small chapter before going to sleep than to slice a chapter between multiple sessions or increase my reading span.
The author speaks from experience. Many sections in the book spoke to me, as something I had experienced in my professional life. Think "experience distilled" in a book.
If you are into technical stuff, you’ll be disappointed. The book is strictly about organization-related matters. On this side, it’s a trove of wise advice.
The book is segmented into chapters, but I think they can be read in any order, as each is cohesive enough. Early chapters tend to reference later chapters less than the opposite. That might be the only reason for the sequence.
The book’s advice, just like any other, can’t be applied blindly. Experience is hard to transmit as it is. You need to carefully read each advice multiple times, analyze its context, evaluate your context, try to apply it, then measure. Rinse and repeat. Yes, organizational matters are more complex to handle than technical ones.
While the subject is serious and the anecdotes relevant, the tone is humorous. Some might like it, some might not. I belong to the former crowd.
Conclusion
If you already have a couple of years of experience and feel your technical skills aren’t enough, I’d definitely recommend this book.