Architecture and design
Most of us are familiar with the process of building a home, at least at a 50,000 foot level. An architect creates the blueprint—the design plans—and hands it over to the construction engineer. The construction engineer with a project manager devises a plan, procures material, and has things in order to "build" the house. Then they lay out the floor plans, design each room in the house meticulously, and at the same time, take into account architectural considerations and factors. This is not an arbitrary process; it is architecture and is much disciplined.
You can draw a parallel to building IT systems from building houses. Many of the attributes of building architecture are applicable to system architecture. The way you architect and design the IT system determines in a very large way the successful delivery of the IT system. In general, architecture is a set of rules that defines a unified and coherent structure consisting of constituent parts and connections that...