Architect Tomorrow

Oliver Cronk

Come on an insightful journey across business, sustainability, technology, strategy and architecture - listen to the people who are influencing the architecture of tomorrow. Hear from the global community for Enterprise, Business, Technology Architects and related roles who want to collaborate and learn from each other. Connect with Oliver Cronk on LinkedIn if you have thoughts on topics or would like to appear on the series. Find the YouTube channel at https://YouTube.com/ArchitectTomorrow/

  1. 21H AGO

    Governance Is Your Innovation Engine (If You're Doing It Right) with Grant Ecker

    In a world where architecture teams are either feared gatekeepers or invisible bystanders, Oliver brings together a brilliant panel to ask a genuinely awkward question: is your governance framework actually helping anyone?Joined by returning regular guests Selena Evans (attorney and certified business architect, USA) and Darryl Carr (enterprise architecture leader, Australia), plus Grant Ecker, founder of the Chief Architect Network and currently leading architecture at Ecolab; this conversation cuts through the mythology around governance to find what actually works, and why so many organisations are getting it badly wrong.What we cover:Governance has a reputation problem. It's been cast as the process of no, the place where careers go to stall and innovation goes to die. But as Selena puts it, that reputation belongs to bad governance; and bad governance is unfortunately abundant. Good governance, by contrast, is a learning function, a memory function, and ultimately an alignment mechanism that lets organisations move with confidence rather than chaos.Grant brings the Chief Architect Network's five themes into sharp focus: principles-based over rules-based; enablement not gatekeeping; AI governance and risk controls; a holistic operating model; and versioned reference architectures with a sustainable baseline. The key insight? Governance should be tailored to where the organisation actually needs agility and where it needs control; and those are rarely the same place.Darryl cuts to the chase on the purpose of governance: it's decision support. Not making decisions for people, but equipping the right people with the right information to make better ones. The moment governance forgets that, it becomes the obstacle rather than the enabler.Then there's AI. Does it fundamentally change the governance game, or is it just the latest technology that review boards need to interrogate carefully? The answer, as ever, is both. The basics remain the same; understand the value, understand the consequences, align to strategy. But AI introduces a probabilistic dimension that rules-based governance simply wasn't built for. When a system might take unpredicted action, you need to think in what Grant calls "3D chess": governing not just what the system does, but how it learns to think and act.The group also tackles something rarely discussed honestly: how generative AI might actually improve the governance process itself. From using AI as a sparring partner before an architecture review board, to automating boilerplate documentation so architects can focus on the decisions that matter, the tools that governance boards are scrutinising may also be the tools that make governance more effective.Darryl closes with a reminder that cuts through all the complexity: "Architecture isn't really about the architecture. It's about people, relationships, and communication." If AI can free up time for more of that, we're probably heading in the right direction.Key themes:Why bad governance abounds and what good governance actually looks likeGovernance as a learning and memory function, not a compliance checklistThe Chief Architect Network's five themes for effective architecture governanceHow AI changes the nature of governance — and what stays exactly the sameFeedback loops, and why closing them is harder than it soundsUsing AI to improve the governance process itselfThe case for "AI in the loop" rather than "human in the loop"Connect with our guests:Grant Ecker and the Chief Architect Network: chiefarchitectnetwork.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/grantecker/Selena Evans: https://linkedin.com/in/selenaevansDarryl Carr: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrylcarr/Oliver Cronk: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cronky/

    49 min

  2. FEB 24

    Green IO London 2025 Conference Interviews and Highlights

    We've created another special edition of Architect Tomorrow this time covering the 2025 Green IO conference in London. Whilst we couldn't capture everything, this episode gives you a taster of what was shared on the day - with interviews with some of the speakers and of course, Gael Duez! Massive thanks to Gael and the Green IO speakers for working with me on this episode - the main parts of this episode are as follows: 0:00 Gael Introduces Green IO and the London Conference 7:14 Amael Parreaux-Ey - CEO @ Resilio 8:22 Magali Saúl @ Sopht 10:00 Anne Currie - Keynote on AI 11:40 Mark Buss @ Ovo and Charlie Beharrell @ heata 13:49 Dryden Williams CEO @ CarbonRunner 17:17 Hannah Smith Director of Ops @GreenWebFoundation 19:36 Oli Winks @ Root and Branch 21:52 Ian Brooks @ UWE 23:37 Oliver Cronk - Recap of the networking panel 25:43 Gael closes the conference Links: https://greenio.tech/conference/15/london-2025-september Carbon.txt: https://www.thegreenwebfoundation.org/tools/carbon-txt/ Tech Carbon Standard: https://www.techcarbonstandard.org/ Do check out https://greenio.tech/ for more details of the talks and upcoming podcasts and conferences by Green IO.

    28 min

  3. 12/04/2025

    Human centric AI architecture with Darryl Carr and Selena Evans

    In a world drowning in AI announcements and breathless proclamations about technological transformation, Oliver brought together Selena Evans (attorney and certified business architect based in the USA) and Darryl Carr (enterprise architecture leader based in Australia) for an honest conversation about technology adoption (of course majoring on AI and its promises), human-centred design, and the role of architects in shaping a more sustainable future. Oliver also talks a little about what he sees as the future of enterprise AI architecture / adoption which aligns with his other recent content.The conversation included:- AI bubble concerns and economic unsustainability- LLM limitations- Business case challenges- Data management issues- Governance and regulation- Human-centered design- Future scenarios and planning- Architectural grafting- Polarization and politics- Hope and principlesKey Takeaways:- Challenge the narrative - The economics of current AI investments don't add up. Ask hard questions about ROI and business cases before committing resources.- Understand the limitations - LLMs are excellent at pattern matching and decision support, but they break down with complexity and drift over time. They're not a replacement for human judgment in complex scenarios.- Fix the foundations first - Data quality, system integration, and organisational structure matter more than ever. AI amplifies what you have—for better or worse.- Think ecosystem, not just enterprise - Look beyond your organisational boundaries to understand market dynamics, partnerships, and how transformation will ripple through your industry.- Embrace governance as an enabler - Well-designed governance unlocks innovation rather than constraining it. Build it into the architecture from day one.- Practice architectural grafting - Build on existing foundations incrementally rather than attempting wholesale replacement. Society and organisations need time to digest change.- Keep humans central - No technology can replace the hard work of building shared meaning across disciplines and worldviews. This is where architects add irreplaceable value.- Define clear principles - Architects provide decision support by bringing holistic awareness to conversations. Establish and apply principles consistently.- Take a breath - The pressure to act immediately is real, but timing matters. Sometimes waiting for maturity is the right call.- Maintain hope through action - The situation is complex, but people across disciplines are coming together in new ways. Your work matters.

    57 min

  4. 09/08/2025

    Zoology to Systems Thinking with Jenny Wilson, Chief Architect at Kingfisher

    In this episode of Architect Tomorrow, Jenny Wilson, Chief Architect at Kingfisher PLC (the group includes brands such as B&Q, Screwfix, Castorama), discusses her journey from zoology and evolutionary anthropology to enterprise architecture. Jenny explains how her scientific background shapes her approach to technology ecosystems and covers: - Diverse backgrounds in architecture teams - Overcoming imposter syndrome in architecture careers - AI's environmental impact versus its benefits - Architecture as enablement rather than gatekeeping - Applying evolutionary thinking to technology strategy - Using Tech Carbon Standard at Kingfisher This conversation (recorded in May 2025) shows how ecological principles can inform better technology decision-making. #ArchitectTomorrow #SystemsThinking #TechArchitecture #TechCarbonStandard

    39 min

  5. 06/16/2025

    Green Software Engineering with Wilco at Voxxed Days Amsterdam

    A conversation with Wilco Burggraaf, Principal Lead Green Software Engineering at High-Tech Innovators, exploring the practical side of green software engineering.In this episode, we discuss:How Wilco transitioned into sustainability after 20+ years in ITBuilding a 700-member Green Software Foundation meetup community in the Netherlands in just 8 monthsThe complex relationship between energy efficiency and compute efficiencyCreating tools to measure CPU utilization at millisecond resolutionWhy idle time and underutilization are the "forgotten things" in sustainabilityThe embodied carbon impact of development practicesHow AI is changing how companies think about software materialization in sustainability reportingPractical approaches to integrating green software tools into CI/CD pipelinesKey Points:- Not all code lines have equal environmental impact- The challenge of attributional vs consequential carbon accounting in serverless- Why "build to last" should be a core principle of sustainable software- How temperature impact on devices affects battery life and overall sustainabilityRecorded at VoxxDays Amsterdam, this conversation bridges theory and practice, showing how green software engineering is moving from research to real-world implementation.Links:https://www.hightechinnovators.nl/ (Dutch)https://www.meetup.com/green-software-the-netherlands/

    12 min

  6. 05/30/2025

    Why Data Centres Belong in Nursing Homes (Not Isolated Warehouses) with David from Leafcloud

    In this episode, Oliver speaks with David Kohnstamm from Leafcloud about a fundamental shift in how we think about data centre locations. Forget remote warehouses - the future of sustainable computing lies in nursing homes, apartment complexes, and anywhere with constant heat demand.David reveals why traditional data centres waste enormous amounts of energy cooling servers, while distributed computing can turn that "waste" heat into free heating for communities. The key insight? It's all about matching your infrastructure to locations with 24/7 heat requirements.- Why nursing homes are perfect data centre locations (constant heat demand, 24/7 operations)- The fatal flaw with office-based edge computing (weekends, evenings, seasonal gaps)- How Leaf Cloud delivers servers that literally pay their rent with waste heat- Why PUE metrics actually reward throwing heat away- The difference between heat recovery that works vs. heat recovery that fails- Why hot water heating beats space heating for consistent demand- How distributed computing can scale to meet 50% of residential heating needsThe Bottom Line: Location strategy for data centres should follow heat demand patterns, not just connectivity or land costs. When you place servers where constant heat is needed, you solve both sustainability and cost challenges simultaneously.#SustainableTech #DataCentres #GreenComputing #HeatRecovery #DistributedComputing

    29 min

  7. 05/26/2025

    Using waste heat from data centres: Deep Green - Mark Bjornsgaard

    Please note: We apologise for the audio and video quality in this episode - as Oliver mentions, "we're a bit hesitant here because we're kind of squatting in part of Tech Show London trying to record a conversation" - but we couldn't miss the opportunity to capture this discussion!In this episode of Architect Tomorrow, we catch up with Mark from Deep Green at Tech Show London to discuss their groundbreaking approach to data centre sustainability.Deep Green operates data centres with a crucial difference - they capture all the waste heat from computing and provide it free to industry and district heating systems. As Mark explains: "97% of the electrons that go into a computer come out as heat" - turning data centres into efficient electric heaters that serve dual purposes.Key topics covered:- How heat recovery makes data centres 20% cheaper to cool and operate- The role of AI and high-density computing in creating more waste heat- Why this model becomes economically attractive above 20kW per rack- The potential to heat 80% of the UK through district heating systems- The intersection of climate emergency and digital infrastructureMark shares insights on market adoption, explaining: "we're unfathomably cheap if you do this you just make yourself richer" and discusses how sustainability credentials combined with superior economics are driving customer interest.This conversation offers a fascinating perspective on how the AI revolution's power demands could actually accelerate decarbonisation efforts across Europe. 🔗 Learn more: https://deepgreen.energy🎯 Part of our ongoing series on sustainable technology and digital transformation#SustainableTech #DataCentres #GreenIT #AI #DistrictHeating #Sustainability #ArchitectTomorrow

    10 min

  8. 04/26/2025

    Futuring Architectures: Ecosystems, AI and Mindset Shifts

    In this episode, Oliver Cronk talks with Ron Kersic about "Futuring Architectures" and how architects can navigate today's rapidly changing digital landscape. Ron, a self-described "recovering programmer" now at ING's Tech Strategy group, discusses his journey from early programming to enterprise architecture. He explains his concept of "Futuring Architectures for Sustaining Transitions" (FAST) and why he rejects traditional "target states" in favor of a "cone of possibilities" approach. Key topics include: Ecosystem thinking beyond organisational boundariesAI's transformative impact on technology creationThe changing role of architects in navigating uncertaintySystems thinking and sustainability across technological and natural ecosystemsThe need for diversity in architecture teamsConnect with Ron Kersic on LinkedIn to learn more about Futuring Architectures: https://nl.linkedin.com/in/ronkersicand get involved in the Architect Tomorrow community through LinkedIn by following Oliver: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/cronky and using the hashtag #ArchitectTomorrowResources MentionedKevin Kelly's concept of the "Technium" - technology acting as an organism that evolves and emerges https://kk.org/thetechnium/Stuart Brand's pace layers - different systems changing at different speedshttps://jods.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/issue3-brand/release/2Magnus Lindkvist's work on futuring - exploring the cone of uncertainty concepthttps://www.magnuslindkvist.com/Episode of Beyond the Hype on Agentic AI:https://blog.scottlogic.com/2025/04/15/beyond-the-hype-should-fully-autonomous-ai-agents-be-developed.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Horizonshttps://substack.com/@futuringarchitectures#enterprisearchitecture #DigitalTransformation #FuturingArchitectures #AI #Sustainability #EcosystemThinking

    47 min
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About

Come on an insightful journey across business, sustainability, technology, strategy and architecture - listen to the people who are influencing the architecture of tomorrow. Hear from the global community for Enterprise, Business, Technology Architects and related roles who want to collaborate and learn from each other. Connect with Oliver Cronk on LinkedIn if you have thoughts on topics or would like to appear on the series. Find the YouTube channel at https://YouTube.com/ArchitectTomorrow/

Information

  • Creator
    Oliver Cronk
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    36
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Oliver Cronk
  • Show Website
    Architect Tomorrow