Many organizations are leaning towards adopting an Agile form of project management. This bring about new concerns for the role of an architect; indeed, some view Agile and architecture to be in conflict. Two of the original signatories to the Agile manifesto, Martin Fowler and Robert Cecil Martin, have been vocally opposed to this idea. Indeed, Fowler is clear in clarifying the fact that while the Agile manifesto is hostile to large upfront design (such as the type you see in Prince2), Agile does not reject upfront design itself.
The computer scientist, Allen Holub, has a similar view. Agile focuses on doing things that are important for delivering software that is useful to the user, ahead of software that is merely useful for the salesman. In order for software to be of use in the long term it must be adaptable, extendable, and maintainable.
Fowler also has a vision for an architect within software development teams. Citing the fact that irreversible software...