2 posts tagged with "category::leadership"

Capacity margins are a fundamental aspect of successful Agile implementations, particularly within the context of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe^®). In essence, capacity margins refer to the intentional allocation of surplus resources and time beyond the estimated requirements for Agile projects. As Agile methodologies gain prominence in modern software development, capacity margins serve as a safety net, allowing teams to effectively handle unforeseen challenges, fluctuations in workload, and uncertainties that are inherent in complex development endeavors. By maintaining capacity margins, Agile teams can avoid the risk of overloading their resources, prevent potential bottlenecks, and retain the agility necessary to adapt to changing requirements or market demands.

After spending a year building a software & systems architecture platform, I learned several things. First, no one does architecture the same way. In fact, the feedback we got about what different teams want out of an "architecture" tool was so wildly different that it was the primary reason we stopped pursuing that project.

Second, some teams value data-driven architecture (i.e. more formal architecture models that support things like code generation or system analysis) while others value not having prescribed structure and syntax. But every team values ease of use. One of the top pain points we identified among all of teams we talked to was that thorough architecture wasn't easy enough.

As a result, most teams use informal approaches to define architecture. Informal "boxes and lines" diagrams are used by every team even when formal architecture artifacts such as models are expected.