Why Software Architecture Matters

I was reflecting on various software systems I had opportunities to work on in last 20 years, initially as a VC++ programmer, then as a project manager, and now as CEO of an offshore IT Services company, Harrier Information Systems. I feel, regardless of the technology, team, project manager or business domain, the single most important factor that separates a system that nobody uses from the one that nobody realizes exists while using it daily; is the software architecture of the system. We have delivered several software systems that customers use daily like Air without realizing those exist till they require an enhancement once in a while. We also had a couple of those that failed to ever go ‘live’.

First, a few successes...

We developed a custom ETL tool that processes millions of records every month, and it just works!
There is a process automation system and another one for equity research that are working smoothly for years!

Another web-based reporting tool has been working ‘forever’ for hundreds of concurrent users.
There is a system for computing indices that worked smoothly till it was too difficult to find people with required expertise to enhance it.

We incorporated straight through processing from front office to back office and accounting applications, for fixed income securities trading using the right architecture at the onset, than doing it after those systems are in place (we should have made some money by taking it as a separate project J).

Now a couple of ‘lessons learned’…

As some of my ex-colleagues reading this would recall, one of the initial projects we worked on as developers was a real time trading system where we tried to use PowerBuilder (with due respect for this strengths where appropriate) for front end of the trading application that never saw the light of a day. We were a few years into the project when we realized the mistake and decided to give up. Our competitor used VC++ for developing the front end and ruled the market for years!

For another system we developed we avoided using any database-side scripting to keep the system independent of a database server. While it worked well initially, it started to slow down within a few years as data grew. That’s when we realized we needed server side scripts to process data on the server and get results on the front end. Thankfully we had time required to fix it.

Point is, right architecture can make or break a software system and it may be too late to correct it by the time we realize it. So, it is usually worth spending time, effort and money to decide the right architecture of the system early into a project. It takes decades of experience and thought to acquire insights into what may work and what may create challenges later. This becomes even more important with rapidly changing technology landscape and newer technologies emerging every month.

Thank you for reading. As always, shall hugely appreciate your feedback and thoughts.


Location: Nagpur, Maharashtra, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Irony of customer satisfaction!

We have a strong relationship for over 3 years with a reputed client, with 2 mission critical systems delivered and being maintained by us. We get multiple repeat orders from them every year. I thank them for their business. We were recently restricted from bidding for a relatively large project by the client saying that we are too small to bid for the project. The BRD for the project is written by us. This almost felt like a slap for providing delighting service to the customer over years at a price no one can beat! I don’t know how to react and hence this blog post. The lesson I learned from this is that its not always timely service at reasonable cost with good technical capabilities (overall, proven track record) and personal relationships, that help you grow. There are other factors at play beyond pure value-proposition that determine the choice of a vendor. Immediate reaction to this was that we increased our pricing to make sure we increase our profitability, as that i...
Read more

Digital, Global and Available!

Some of this may sound repetitive but is increasingly relevant with each passing day. Considering the way, the Internet is evolving and engulfing various aspects of life, soon we may have one gigantic network, and any screen for all of the following, and more… ·        Information (the Web) ·        Communication (phone, email, chat, instant messaging - Whatsapp) ·        Entertainment and media (Videos, TV, Movies, Media, Social Media) ·        Education (information and knowledge as text, images, video and audio) ·        Commerce (Catalogs, Banking, payments) ·        Maps and Navigation (GIS, GPS, Uber and Ola) ·        Tourism and hospitality (Trip Advisor, Yelp, AirBnB!) ·        Healthcare (Telemedicine) ·  ...
Read more

Lending and borrowing for interest is a Sin!

Let me start with a disclaimer that I am not an expert in Banking or Finance. In fact, as my family and some of my friends know, I am pretty bad at handing and managing money. Having admitted that, while thinking about subprime crisis and reading about ponzi schemes and loan defaults by some of the well known so-called Indian industrialists, I started wondering if the idea of lending and borrowing and the greed is the root cause of all this evil. Being a hardcore Hindu, the best thing I like about Islam, is the principle that lending and borrowing for interest are sins! Perfect! I think at least half the financial troubles in the world may disappear if just this one rule is put in place. If not complete ban at least there has to be a ceiling on the amount that can be borrowed or lent, to help in case of emergencies, and education for deserving student. Below are some of the consequences I could think of, of such a move. Farmers in India may stop committing suicide be...
Read more