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Diagram
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Title
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Less is More
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Building Architecture
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Modernist standardisation and rationalisation resulted in minimalism and reductionism. The proponents of modernism declared that "less is more" pointing to the simple, clean and orderly designs of the "International Style". Critics refer to minimalism as "less is bore", arguing that it lacks art and creativity.
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Architecture Intensive Disciplines
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Frameworks and standards are often established to create a boundary that ensure architectural integrity. It provides a structure and order to systems. Rigid structures, autocratic enforcement of standards and inflexible policies and procedures can also constrain dynamic responses to change. User interfaces that are standardised to provide ease of use may become restrictive and boring to the more advanced user.
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Case Study A: Large Corporate IT
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Modernist architecture is a two-edged sword. We had provided an architecture that had an orderly structure. The repository and dynamic configuration of portals was admired by many of the developers that had the opportunity to work on the project. But the works were complex for some developers and the sense of adhering to the integrity of an architecture was perceived as a constraint to those who enjoyed a more independent spirit. Some developers did not want to write stored procedures because it constrained their ability to modify the program from the front-end. And from the user perspective what would initially be accepted as structured would eventually become boring. With web application development, many users acquire an appetite for things "new".
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Case Study B: Small Commercial Team
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The software was rich in function. For many users, too rich and complicated. The focus over the previous 3-5 years of development was on functionality. Interestingly, enough the corporate users were more comfortable with the complexity and the rich set of functions than the smaller firms. This may have been due to the fact that smaller companies tended to use more of the features than large corporations who were process centric - where users repeatedly use a part of the system.
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