vi·sion·ar·y

thinking about or planning the future with imagination or wisdom

Introduction

3 weeks ago I was at the architecture conference in London. I did a 2 day training about the "Fundamentals of Architecture" by Mark Richards.
And one of the things he tought was: As an architect you need to be aware of your surroundings. It is an important lesson to not stay inside your bubble. As an example, if you only use Mysql you will miss out on the nice features that NoSQL brings you.

Does this means you need to know everything of everything? no of course not, but at least have an understanding of the techniques (like microservices) or products. Than the questions comes, what is everything? there is a lot out there in the world. The help you prioritize there is a nice tool or technique which is a "Technology Radar".

Technology radar

The Technology radar is a living document with Frameworks, tools, platforms and techniques, to give you a good overview on what you need to focus on for the upcoming months. I am going to update this every 3 months, there is only so much you can do with your time :)

The radar has 4 rings:

• Hold: If you have it, try to phase it out or put it on hold
• Asses: a technology worth exploring with the goal of understanding it and how it will affect you
• Trial: technologies you (and/or colleagues) have decided are worth pursuing. Invest more time into it so you have a full understanding of it
• Adopt: Items you should adopt. The no brainers you should have. Docker is a nice example

Continuation

Now that you know the basics, invest some time to create a nice radar. Dont go overboard. Focus on the first three months. After that revisit the radar and move and/or introduce new items.

Why I like it

I like it because it gives me focus and clearity on what I need to spend my time on and I know about tools that are upcoming.

My current radar can be found here.
And a more indepth post about this concept is on the thoughworks website.