The mission critical systems architects

Systems and infrastructure

The infrastructure is the glue that holds the operational core of a business together. When the technology you rely on stops working, so does the business. It’s that simple.

People who really understand technology, how to best utilise it and who can communicate clearly are essential to the survival and growth of the business.

The systems and infrastructure have to be well designed, resilient, easy to maintain and well protected.

It's best to mentor, educate and develop your own people to fully understand what your systems do, how they do it, and why they behave as they do. The trick is finding those people and developing them.

Having the necessary level of knowledge in-house minimises risk and cost by enabling you to respond quickly without relying on scarce external assistance.

Software design and implementation

With software, you should minimise the risk of incompatibility across platforms. You should also minimise complexity and functionality, thus maximising reliability and the ability to deliver consistent operation.

A software application is merely a tool to do a specific job, which needs to be clear, simple, effective and intuitive to use. It should not be packed with unnecessary features, inconsistencies and errors, all of which can create confusion for the end user.

Just because something is technically feasible does not mean that it's a good idea to inflict it on your user community. It is essential to put yourselves in the context of the end user and understand what it is that they need. You can then design and implement the minimum necessary functionality as best you can.