Jiri’s Notepad

There’s so many references to Christopher Alexander in IT, and escpecially Enterprise Architecture, communities, that I thought I must read something by him.

Maybe, Synthesis of Form was a wrong choice (I chose the cheapest, rather than the most quoted one), but somehow I have mixed feelings. There is some great stuff in the book, but considering how much credit Alexander is getting, I was surprised how little relevant this book is to IT architecture work. Still it was an enjoyable read.

Cult status of other books (such as Pattern Language), probably give away, that Alexander sees form as the key subject of the design process. Goodness of the form can be judged how fitting is the artefact for real-world usage.

The treatise on the evolution of the design process is excellent. Pre-historic design process was unconscious. It was handed over through generations and because it was not a subject to conscious examination, it resulted in production of the same type of artefacts. Moving to modernity, the design process became conscious and rational, thanks to which we enjoy a wide variety of forms.

Having thrown away uncosciouss process to design, the book, in its second part, reconstructs the fundamentals of the conscious design process. Alexander outlines fundamental steps to get from context to architecturally significant requirements to functional and economical characteristics of the designed artefact to definition of subsystems and systems to tracability of requirements.

I enjoyed the deconstruction of the design process and in general other philosophical treaties of what is probably for most of us business-as-usual process. And that is probably the biggest problem with expecting practical value from the book. Most of the recommended fundamental steps are already included in the common body of knowledge. Still, it is refreshing to read about reasons, why something that is an accepted wisdom, is the right way to do things.