[Sigia-l] You're not alone

[Adrian Howard]

On 17 Feb 2007, at 15:11, Skot Nelson wrote:
> On Feb-17-2007, at 02:28 , Mike Brown wrote:
>
>> And among other things,
>> I'm struck by how similar the relationship between the architect and
>> builder is to that between (my experience of) the designer and
>> developer
>> of a website.
>
> This is an ancient example. Alan Cooper's been using it for ages.

It's also one I personally don't find particularly illuminating for  
two reasons:

First, software development isn't construction. They have very  
different constraints. These days we have a whole bunch of techniques  
that mean we can make late design decisions with little cost. The  
same isn't true of the construction world.

Second the stereotype of successful architect/builder combinations is  
quite a long way from the way successful architect/builders  
combinations actually work. Builders know a lot more about building  
design than most people think. Architects know a lot more about  
building things than most people think. Architects and builders talk  
more before, during and after construction than most people think.

Tell most architects or builders of large projects that the architect  
does all of the building design first, or that the design doesn't  
change during construction, and you'll have to wait some time before  
they stop snickering in my experience :-)

Cheers,

Adrian