Blog on Uwe Friedrichsen

The essence of architectural work - Part 7 The previous post concluded the discussion of the What, the essential activities of architectural work using the 4E framework as guidance.

The essence of architectural work - Part 6 In the previous post, we introduced the idea of the 4E framework and discussed the first two of the “E”.

The essence of architectural work - Part 5 In the previous post, we concluded the discussion of the Why, the purpose of architectural work, by looking at the cognitive and the humane facets of architectural work.

The essence of architectural work - Part 4 In the previous post, we discussed the economic purpose of architecture.

The essence of architectural work - Part 3 In the previous post, we discussed several architectural anti-patterns.

The essence of architectural work - Part 2 In the previous post, we started discussing that not understanding why we do architectural work leads to many detrimental anti-patterns in software development.

The essence of architectural work - Part 1 This blog series is a long-overdue write-up of my presentation “Essential architectural work”.

We are our own worst enemies This post is about two observations I repeatedly make when looking around in our community.

It has never been about code The dream It started many years ago with a dream – a dream about a universal automaton.

In search of resilience AI is eating IT.

You are not left behind How often have you heard a phrase like “If you do not become highly proficient in AI/LLMs/Agentic AI now, you will be left behind!”

Forget technical debt To be clear: I do not think we should actually forget technical debt.

We default to addition I wrote a lot about the staggering complexity in IT, its detrimental effects, and what we can and should do about it (see, e.g., my “Simplify!”

AI and the ironies of automation - Part 2 In the previous post, we discussed several observations, Lisanne Bainbridge made in her much-noticed paper “The ironies of automation”, she published in 1983 and what they mean for the current “white-collar” work…

AI and the ironies of automation - Part 1 In 1983, Lisanne Bainbridge wrote the much-noticed paper “The ironies of automation”.

It is your fault if your application is down Recently, AWS experienced one of its rare partial outages.

Solving the wrong problem I think a lot about AI-assisted and AI-based coding.

The process deadlock When a company is small and young, work is often done in a seemingly ad hoc fashion.

A note about eventual consistency - Part 2 In the previous post we discussed what eventual consistency actually means and why we sometimes need to favor eventual consistency over strong consistency.

A note about eventual consistency - Part 1 Recently I saw a skeet on Bluesky: “Eventually consistent mainly means it will be regularly non consistent at all.”

Thoughts on AI and software development - Part 5 In the previous post, we completed our analysis of the projection Steve made by looking at some unresolved side effects and questions that would come with such a future.

Thoughts on AI and software development - Part 4 In the previous post, we looked at the likely short- and mid-term consequences if Steve’s projection should become reality.

Thoughts on AI and software development - Part 3 In the previous post, we looked at the want side regarding Steve’s projection and the forces they trigger.

Thoughts on AI and software development - Part 2 In the previous post, we looked at Steve Yegge’s post where he made a projection from the vibe coding of today to controlling AI agent fleets in the near future that take over all coding reliably.

Thoughts on AI and software development - Part 1 This blog series will be a bit different.

(Un)coupling in distributed systems - Part 2 In the previous post, we started to discuss a specific type of coupling, the coupling between processes in a distributed system.

(Un)coupling in distributed systems - Part 1 Coupling is a big issue in software design.

The long and winding road towards resilience - Part 10 In the previous post, we discussed what we find at the peak of Mt.

The long and winding road towards resilience - Part 9 In the previous post, we broadened our view and learned about the sameness of business and IT.

The long and winding road towards resilience - Part 8 In the previous post, we discussed what we find at the high-plateau of basic resilience.

The long and winding road towards resilience - Part 7 In the previous post, we discussed what it means to also prepare for surprises, the realizations needed to guide us to the next plateau, including the probably biggest obstacle in our way: efficiency o…

The long and winding road towards resilience - Part 6 In the previous post, we discussed the plateau of robustness, the second interim stop on the journey towards resilience, what it is good for, what its limitations are and what it means to get there.

The long and winding road towards resilience - Part 5 In the previous post, we discussed discussed the 100% availability trap and revisited availability.

The long and winding road towards resilience - Part 4 In the previous post, we discussed the plateau of stability, the first interim stop on the journey towards resilience – what it is good for, what its limitations are and why it is quite popular.

The long and winding road towards resilience - Part 3 In the previous post, we discussed the valley of feature-completeness, the starting point of our prototypical journey towards resilience and we realized that such a setup usually is not advisable anymo…

The long and winding road towards resilience - Part 2 We laid the foundations for our journey towards resilience in the previous post by clarifying what resilience is.

The long and winding road towards resilience - Part 1 In its core, this post series will discuss three questions: What is resilience?

Projects considered harmful - Part 2 In the previous post, we discussed how the broken feedback loops that software development projects create lead to a continuously deteriorating IT system landscape, resulting in an ever-shrinking dependability – which…

Projects considered harmful - Part 1 What is a project?

Responsible IT - Part 2 In the previous post, we discussed the biggest challenges, IT organizations face these days.

Responsible IT - Part 1 Lately, I attended an IT decision maker conference.

The need-vs-want dilemma In the The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book, author Bill Watterson commented on some selected comic strips.

Software - It’s not what you think it is - Part 7 In the previous post, we summed up the misconceptions we discussed in this series and what they mean for the current discussion if AI solutions will replace software developers.

Software - It’s not what you think it is - Part 6 In the previous post we have discussed that software is invisible which deprives humans from an essential reasoning instrument.

Software - It’s not what you think it is - Part 5 In the previous post, we discussed the value preservation dilemma of software.

Software - It’s not what you think it is - Part 4 In the previous post of this blog series we discussed the greenfield fallacy and its consequences.

Software - It’s not what you think it is - Part 3 In the previous post of this blog series we discussed the broken abstraction dilemma, that abstractions help to create concise descriptions but take away degrees of freedom, and that breaking an abstraction

Software - It’s not what you think it is - Part 2 In the previous post of this blog series we discussed the assembly line fallacy, the misconception that software development is the same as building a car and learned that software development is part of t…

Software - It’s not what you think it is - Part 1 The current AI hype is accompanied with a lot of predictions that software development will be taken over by AI solutions soon and most software developers will lose their jobs together with most other whi…

Back to the future Recently I tried to catch up with the recent developments in platform engineering when I experienced once more a just too familiar déjà vu feeling.