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IN THIS SECTION, YOU WILL: Get a selection of my favorite quotes about architecture.

People, People, People

Architecture is not so much about the software, but about the people who write the software. The core principles of architecture, such as coupling and cohesion, aren't about the code. The code doesn't 'care' about how cohesive or decoupled it is; … But people do care about their coupling to other team members.
-James O. Coplien
Software design is an exercise in human relationships.
-Kent Beck
Bad software architecture is a people problem. When people don't work well together they make bad decisions.
-Kate Matsudaira
To change the architecture of a software-intensive system ensconced in a large organization, you often have to change the architecture of the organization. And ultimately, that is a political problem, not just a technical one.
-Grady Booch

Changing Role of Architecture

The role of architects has changed from trying to be the smartest person to making everyone else smarter.
-Gregor Hohpe
The architect's role is changing from being primarily a decision maker to being a coordinator, advisor, and knowledge manager ... a central knowledge hub.
-Rainer Weinreich & Iris Groher
Rather than inject itself in every decision loop, architecture should design mechanisms for teams to make better decisions - they’ll know better anyhow, and slowing them down carries a high cost..
-Gregor Hohpe
Your architecture team’s job is to solve your biggest problems. The best setup is the one that allows it to accomplish that.
-Gregor Hohpe
Your organization has to earn its way to an effective architecture function. You can’t just plug some architects into the current mess and expect it to solve all your problems.
-Gregor Hophe

Complexity

Excessive complexity is nature’s punishment for organizations that are unable to make decisions.
-Gregor Hohpe
Metawork is more interesting than work. ... we love complicated little puzzles to solve, so we keep overengineering everything.
-Neal Ford
Developers are drawn to complexity like moths to a flame often with the same result.
-Neal Ford

Other

Architecture is just a collective hunch, a shared hallucination, an assertion by a set of stakeholders on the nature of their observable world, be it a world that is or a world as they wish it to be.
-Grady Booch
Architects code, but not to deliver code. Rather, to understand the ramifications of the decisions that they're making.
-Gregor Hohpe, Dave Farley
Architectural decisions are design decisions that are hard to make or costly to change.
-Olaf Zimmermann
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