Adopt Anti-patterns!

I love patterns. I love Architecture. Patterns are one of the best ways of helping people align to your Architecture. I love patterns because they define architecture and provide pre-designed solutions to common problems.

BUT…anti-patterns are awesome as well. In fact I have come to believe that anti-patterns are equally essential to your architecture because they clearly demonstrate the things you do NOT want people to do. That can really drive home the pattern you are trying to reinforce. Here are 5 reasons anti-patterns are so powerful:

1.      When someone sees their preferred approach outlined as an anti-pattern it will drive their attention. (“Hey…I’ve always done it that way.”) Human nature will spur them to read further and learn why their go-to approach is discouraged.

2.      Read number 1 again – it’s powerful!

3.      You can clearly document why the anti-pattern is not desired and why the target pattern is better. This will help the reader to see the difference and better understand the advantages of the pattern.

4.      Anti-patterns make the target pattern even clearer. Defining what not to do narrows the “to do” path and makes it stand out.

5.      If you are dealing with a complex topic, anti-patterns will help you slice it down to point out individual design choices from a positive and negative position.    This slicing and dicing will make the overall problem and solution easier to understand.

So next time you document a pattern (and good architects should always be doing that), consider documenting a few anti-patterns to go with it. The process will only take you a little bit more time and the result will be much more meaningful. Your pattern will have a much high rate of acceptance as well.