Is your IT development shop feeling more like the Wild West because everyone is doing what they feel like instead of following any rules? If it is, you are missing out on the benefits architectural standards can bring to your development organization. Benefits like:

• • Improved Quality: By ensuring that all projects adhere to architectural standards, leading to more robust, secure, and scalable systems.
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  • Cross-Team Collaboration: When teams follow the same architectural standards, collaboration across different teams or departments becomes smoother and more productive.
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  • Strategic Alignment: Ensuring that IT architectures are aligned with the organization’s strategic goals, enabling better support for business objectives.
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  • Cost Efficiency: By encouraging the reuse of components both development and maintenance costs will be reduced.
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  • Shared Vocabulary: Architectural standards establish a common vocabulary for describing system components and interactions. This makes it easier for teams to communicate effectively within and across projects.

Establishing architectural standards may seem overwhelming, but it shouldn’t. You do not need standards for everything IT builds, the key is repeatability/reusability (don’t create a standard for something that will only be used once). Here is my approach for developing the architectural standards based on your application patterns:
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1. Identify Common Challenges and Scenarios

• Start by analyzing the current systems within your organization to identify recurring challenges, common functionalities, and frequently requested needs. 

• Engage with developers, architects, and stakeholders to understand the issues they face regularly and the solutions they use to address them.
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2. Catalog Application Patterns

• Gather and document the application patterns in use within your organization. This includes patterns related to user interface design, data access, security, error handling, etc. 

• Organize these patterns by categories such as security, structural, database, integration, scheduling, scalability, etc.
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3. Define Architectural Standards

• Ensure the terminology describing the patterns is consistent across the organization. This helps with clear communication and understanding. 

• For each pattern, define where, when, and how it should be applied. Include constraints, best practices, and correct and incorrect usage examples. 

• Develop standard templates or skeletons of code based on these patterns that can be used as starting points in new projects.
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4. Integrate Patterns into Architectural Models

• When defining the architecture for new projects or systems, explicitly reference the relevant application patterns. This helps ensure consistency and adherence to standards. 

• Define architectural layers (e.g., presentation, business logic, data access) and specify appropriate patterns for each layer or component.
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5. Tooling and Automation

• Create or integrate tools and automation that enforce certain patterns during the development process. For example, code generators or those that offer pattern-based scaffolding. 

• Implement automated checks to review code for adherence to the defined patterns and standards.
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6. Educate and Train Teams

• Conduct regular training sessions to educate development teams on the application patterns and how and why they fit into the architectural standards. 

• Provide comprehensive documentation, including examples, FAQs, and case studies, to help teams understand how and why to apply these patterns in real-world scenarios.
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In summary, architectural standards are crucial for creating a stable, efficient, and scalable IT development ecosystem. They ensure that your organization’s systems are built on a solid foundation, which supports growth, reduces costs, and improves overall quality and maintainability.
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I am happy to share my experience on this issue and how to establish architectural standards. Let’s chat…feel free to schedule time with me.  I’m always happy to talk.  Calendly – Andy Smith