Link: http://www.etc-architect.com/?p=148
From ETC-Architect » IT Architect Global | Solution Architect, Global | Enterprise Architect, Global
Bifurcation or Forking is used many areas outside of commercial ICT, EA or BA architecture. Example can be found in the law (litigation), engineering with liquids, mathematics, medicine and many more. Bifurcation is also something very popular in open source projects, as well as in software development and source control, such as with forks in Git. However once you arrive at enterprise level in architecture the idea of bifurcation suddenly turns from nice to bad. The reason is obvious, as anything non standard or anything that adds diversity is looked down at. This kind of standard synergetic thinking however is a highly flawed concept as bifurcation has shown us in other areas.
A controlled bifurcation is actually one of the best ways to control the inevitable diversification of the IT landscape and should be used by architects to promote a core of reuse instead of insisting on a idea of pure standardisation that will never happen in reality. Not only our body and surgeons like to use bifurcation on our blog vessels as a way to avoid heart attacks, but also many negotiators use as a way to drain pressure a situation. In the same way we as architects need to develop options where we use bifurcation to protect of core reusable components, but create true indecency around this. Usually a true independency is not given in most situations as most enterprise architects are reluctant to empower others.
