Tech-Ed Panel Q&A: Architecture in the Real World - Questions

During TechEd Israel last week, I've also had the privilege to take part in an Architect's panel that took place on the third day (and was largely ignored by the general population, perhaps because there was a Clemens Vasters Talk Taking place at the same time - Timing is Everything!).

Anyway, The panel hosted 8 guys, 4 of which were Microsoft Consulting Services guys from Israel and the others were outside Consultants, myself included.

 

It was a fun panel, hosted by guy Ron of MCS, mainly because it was more of a conversation and banter between different schools of thought (I represented the Agile Side of Architecture).

Because I've heard of some people who were sad to miss it, I'll post here some of the most interesting questions from that panel and my answers to them.

 

List Of Questions:

1. Agile Vs. Formal Methodologies (Answers)
   1. Is "Agile" just another trend that is slowly turning into a more accepted and practiced methodology?
   2. Is this the beginning of the end for "Formal" Methodologies?
   3. What role, if any, as VSTS played in the struggle of Agile methodologies to become more "mainstream"?
   4. When would you use Agile or Formal Methodologies?
   5. What about "hybrid" culture where Agile and Formal mix together rather than going the full on extreme path of "one or the other"?
2. Software Factories and UML (Answers, and one more)
   1. Has Microsoft Abandoned UML?
   2. Is the Domain Specific Language path so different than UML? Can they be combined?
3. SOA
   1. Is SOA a Disappointment?
4. Enterprise Service Bus
   1. Is it hype?
   2. What the idea?
5. OR Mapping
   1. Are ORM tools more ripe for usage these days?
   2. What ORM would you use (if you would use it) and when?
6. The Role of the Architect - What is it? And what Makes for a Good Architect?

I hope to address some or all of these questions during the near future on this blog as separate posts.