Must All Technology Recommendations Provide Tangible and Quantifiable Business Value?

Must All Technology Recommendations Provide Tangible and Quantifiable Business Value?

This is not a trick question; rather, it is a question that all architects will continuously be challenged by. Business leaders and developers constantly ask us to prove the value for our recommendations. On the other hand, architects might wonder why their constituents can't simply accept their advice because, to them, the reasons to follow through on their suggestions seem so obvious.  Unfortunately for the architect, there are many suggestions that are very difficult to tie to predictable outcomes. Usually the people who challenge us want to know how some technology or technique will increase productivity and revenue, or perhaps decrease costs. It's totally within their rights to ask, but can we always honestly defend our positions with solid data or a rationale that others can relate to? The truth is that there are many times when we can not, yet we know (or more accurately believe) that, should the skeptical accept our counsel, they will reap the benefits in the future. So how does one go about helping the naysayer understand the sometimes intangible, hard to quantify, or hard to express benefits of our technology and process recommendations?

Resources Updated
I've updated the Resources Links page, adding more screenshots too.

Book Chapters Accepted for PLoP Shepherding

Well, the book project (i.e. Addison Wesley book on SOA Design Patterns) continues to move along. Upon the recommendation of Scott Ambler, and in order to ensure the highest levels of quality, I decided to follow the pattern (pun intended) established by many of the pattern authors that have preceded me. I have therefore submitted a few chapters from my book to the Pattern Languages of Programming Conference put on by Hillside.Net. This conference is the premier event for pattern authors and pattern enthusiasts to gather, discuss, learn more about patterns and software development, and acquire feedback from peers with the goal being to improve the patterns.

Thanks to Jim Webber for Help on Service Design Patterns Book

I’d like to thank Dr. Jim Webber of ThoughtWorks for graciously volunteering to critique a few chapters from my upcoming Service Design Patterns book.  Jim is an authority on the practical application of REST. Thanks Jim, your feedback was awesome!!!!

btw: Jim has a book titled REST in Practice coming out sometime this year. In addition to RESTful Web Services, this book looks like it will be a "must-have" for those who embrace REST.