Paul Preiss

Technologists tend to think of end-to-end as meaning the UI to the database from client to server. But a true architect realizes end to end means from idea to retirement. The architect has to traverse a lot of territory in that journey, from business to technology. They have to work through change management, complex stakeholder dynamics, systems of systems and of course technical decisions.

This introduction to the end-to-end architect will prepare you with the 5 pillars of architecture as well as help you understand how to navigate the complexity of end-to-end architecture work!

LLMs are already being used to generate code, but using them to generate and validate architecture is a fundamentally harder and more interesting problem. This talk introduces a practical approach to LLM-based design loops built on the BTABoK CLI and MCP (Model Context Protocol), where structured architecture artefacts — canvases, decisions, fitness functions — become the inputs and outputs of iterative AI-assisted design cycles. Rather than asking an LLM to freeform a system design, the loop grounds generation in BTABoK schemas, validates outputs against CoDL/CaDL constraints, and surfaces gaps for human review.

Drawing on BTABoK's Design concept — architecture as deliberate, constraint-aware shaping of solutions — the session is honest about where LLMs add genuine leverage (option generation, consistency checking, documentation) and where human judgement remains essential (trade-off resolution, stakeholder alignment, ethical constraints). Attendees leave with a concrete architecture for building their own design loop, not just a demo.

Most architecture documentation lives in slide decks and wikis — formats that humans struggle to act on and LLMs can't reason over reliably. This talk introduces CoDL (Constraints Description Language) and CaDL (Capabilities Description Language) as lightweight, structured notations for expressing architecture in a form that both governance processes and AI tooling can consume. Drawing on the BTABoK's Architecture Description competency — which emphasises producing structured, stakeholder-relevant, and traceable representations of systems — the session shows how formalising architectural intent into machine-readable schemas unlocks new possibilities: automated compliance checks, LLM-driven design critiques, and governance workflows that run without manual chasing.

Attendees leave with a working mental model of what these languages look like, where they slot into everyday architecture work, and why getting the notation right is the prerequisite for everything else in the AI-assisted architecture stack.

I've witnessed firsthand the challenges and opportunities faced by companies navigating the complex world of legacy systems.

In this session, I'll draw on my years of experience to:

Define the “legacy landscape”: We'll explore the different types of legacy systems, their impact on businesses, and the unique challenges they present for technology teams. We will also distinguish between legacy and technical debt. We will show practical and actionable tools to extract legacy ‘reasoning’ and ‘design’ and transform them into moder landscapes.

Understand the business context: We'll shift perspectives, examining how legacy systems support core business functions and value propositions. Extracting out of a legacy system is essential. And the core capabilities it supports even more so.

Bridge the gap: Technology delivery strategies: We'll delve into practical strategies for delivering technology value within a legacy environment, including:

Modernization techniques: Refactoring, microservices, and API integration.

Legacy coexistence strategies: Leveraging existing investments while adopting new technologies.

Change management considerations: Aligning stakeholders, navigating risk,and ensuring adoption.

Real-world case studies: Learn from real-world examples of companies successfully delivering technology value in legacy environments.

Open discussion: Share your own challenges and experiences, and engage in a collaborative discussion about navigating the legacy landscape.

Architecture too often floats free of the business model that funds it, producing technically coherent systems that fail to deliver the outcomes that actually matter. This talk builds a full, traceable chain from business model canvas — how the organisation creates and captures value — through product feature decisions, down to the fitness functions and quality attributes that determine whether the system can actually support those features at scale. Using BTABoK's Business Model and Product & Project concepts as the foundation, the session demonstrates how each layer constrains and informs the next: a subscription revenue model demands very different availability and onboarding characteristics than a transactional one, and those differences must propagate into explicit architectural decisions, not just intuition.

Attendees get a hands-on framework for doing this analysis on their own products, making the invisible architecture of their business model visible and actionable.

As CEO of Iasa, the world's largest professional association for architects, and champion of the BTABoK (Business Technology Architecture Body of Knowledge), I've witnessed firsthand the dynamic interplay between engineering and architecture in today's complex projects. In this session, we'll dance on the edge of these disciplines, using the BTABoK as our guiding framework, exploring how agile practices, decisive engineering, efficient delivery, and the delicate balance of hands-on/hands-off leadership intertwine.

Defining the modern dance: We'll explore the shifting ground where agile methodologies meet traditional engineering rigor, and how architects leverage the BTABoK's 5 Pillars of Architecture Skill (Business Strategy, Technology Strategy,Solution Design, Delivery & Operations, and Value Management) to navigate the tension inherent in the roles. We will also dive into the healthy and natural balance between engineereing and architecture and why it is so essential to modern systems success.

Understanding the business waltz: We'll shift perspectives, examining how business objectives and user needs inform the interaction between agility and precision in complex projects, aligning with the BTABoK's emphasis on strategic value delivery.

Change Management and Architecture: We'll look into practical strategies for managing the roadmap and delivery of a project including:

Harmonizing delivery: Finding the sweet spot between iterative sprints and long-term vision, as outlined in the Delivery & Operations pillar.

Hands-on leadership: Empowering teams while providing strategic guidance,aligning with the Leadership and People skills.

Technical Excellence: Ensuring high-quality engineering practices within an agile framework, leveraging the BTABoK's Technology pillar.

Human Systems: Addressing unforeseen challenges and navigating changing requirements, a key competency in the BTABoK's Solution Design pillar.

Case studies from the architectural stage: Learn from real-world examples of successful projects where architects mastered the interaction between agility and engineering excellence, demonstrating the practical application of the BTABoK principles.

Open discussion: Share your own experiences and challenges, and engage in a collaborative conversation about navigating the complexities of modern architecture, applying the BTABoK's collaborative and knowledge-sharing principles.

This session is for you if you are:

A senior developer or technology leader working with legacy systems.
A senior architect looking at a portfolio of change and large structural systems delivery.
Responsible for delivering new technology solutions in a complex, existing environment.
Keen to gain practical strategies and actionable insights from a business and technical perspective.

The Architecture Decision Record has become a staple of modern architecture practice, but most teams treat all decisions the same way — and pay for it later in rework, confusion, and decisions that quietly rot. This talk makes the case that architecturally significant decisions fall into at least three distinct categories — structural decisions that shape the system's fundamental form, cross-cutting decisions that enforce constraints across components, and local decisions that make sense only in narrow context — each requiring different levels of rigour, different audiences, and different lifecycle management. Grounded in the BTABoK's Decisions concept, which frames decision-making as a core architecture artefact rather than a byproduct of design, the session gives practitioners a practical classification model they can apply immediately.

You'll walk away knowing which decisions deserve a full ADR, which need something lighter, and which ones are silently doing the most damage when they go unrecorded.