Software Architecture and Quidditch

First allow me the pleasure of saying that Harry Potter sucks. I'm a big fan of Tolkien, Moorcock, Zelazny, and other fantasy. But not the juvenihilisticism of Potter.

(can I say it sucks when I've never read it? how dare I)

Quidditch is interesting, though. Hurling on steroids, with the twist of the snitch. The snitch is a magic key to victory. There is a corollary in software architecture: the snitch is the core issue, core problem, which underlies the scaling and complexity issues of a system. It is the job of the architect to find the snitch.

Unlike in Quidditch, though, in software architecture it is the job of the whole team to do something with the snitch once it is found. In software, the best solution, the best idea, can come from anyone. The architect should facilitate the solution process once the snitch is discovered, so that the entire team can then win the game together.

Let's not build an entire school to kiss one kid's ass. :)~