The Origins of Patterns

Christopher Alexander was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. With a group of graduate students in the mid 1970s, he set out to catalog common practices he saw throughout architecture. He noted that many problems in architecture are inveterate, and that recording a set of optimal, or at least frequently employed, solutions to these problems would help elevate architecture as a field and expedite the work of architects. He called these common solutions “patterns,” and his most excellent book, A Pattern Language, catalogs dozens of them.

Inspired by Alexander’s work in the architecture of houses, buildings, and city planning, the Gang of Four applied the idea of patterns to software in their book Design Patterns. Since then, many books have employed patterns in a variety of technological domains, and the present work expands on this idea, taking repeated solutions found in the work of business strategists and illustrating how we can apply them to better our work as technologists.

The use of patterns as a structuring mechanism here is intended to make the book easy to use later as a reference after you’ve read it.

Applying the Patterns

There are five basic steps to follow in formulating your strategic technology analysis. Here is a simplified outline:

1. Establish context

   1. Analyze the trends happening in the world outside.

   2. Analyze the forces at work across your industry, your organization, and your department.

   3. Gain a view on your stakeholders.

2. Understand your competition, the market, and the technology landscape.

3. Identify strategic options in your products, services, and technology roadmap.

4. Evaluate those options.

5. Make a compelling recommendation with a coherent, cohesive, comprehensive strategy to gain approval and resources to execute your plans.

With this process in mind, let’s turn our attention to how to view your technology work through the lens of architecture and strategy, so we have a shared understanding and vocabulary.