Vitruvian Quality

@ITCAMPRO #ITCAMP19Community Conference for IT Professionals
Vitruvian Quality
Peter Leeson
Independent Effectiveness Consultant
@PeterLeeson
www.pleeson.co.uk
https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterleeson/

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VITI…WHAT?
Going back to the origins, a long time ago
Vitruvian Quality 4

• Born about 70 or 80 BCE; died
after 15 CE?
• Maybe not called Pollio
• Perhaps actually called Lucius
Vitruvius Cordo
• Or just Mamurra
• Possibly looked something like
this picture (probably not)
• Considered the father of
architecture, but only one known
building: the basilica at Fano
(destroyed without a trace)
Vitruvian Quality 5
Introducing Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (maybe)

Or maybe
Vitruvian Quality 6

• As a master builder, Vitruvius was
skilled in
– Architecture
– Construction management
– Construction engineering
– Chemical engineering
– Civil engineering
– Materials engineering
– Mechanical engineering
– Military engineering
– Urban planning
• As an artillery man, he designed the
Roman ballista weapon
• Father of “architectural acoustics”
Vitruvian Quality 7
Vitruvius Creations

Vitruvian Quality 8
Designs used in Game of Thrones (Season 4)

• Author of “de Architectura”: 10 volume
treatise on
– Town planning, architecture or civil
engineering in general, and the qualifications
required of an architect or the civil engineer
– Building materials
– Temples and the orders of architecture (2
volumes)
– Civil buildings
– Domestic buildings
– Pavements and decorative plasterwork
– Water supplies and aqueducts
– Sciences influencing architecture –
geometry, measurement, astronomy, sundial
– Use and construction of machines – Roman
siege engines, water mills, drainage
machines, Roman
technology, hoisting, pneumatics
Vitruvian Quality 9
Vitruvius, Author

• Text influenced deeply
from the Early
Renaissance onwards
artists, thinkers, and
architects, including
Vitruvian Quality 10
De Architectura
Leon Battista Alberti: Basilica of
Sant’Andrea, Mantua (Italy)
Michelangelo: St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican
City (Vatican)
Leonardo da Vinci: Notebook
– Leon Battista Alberti
(1404–1472)
– Leonardo da Vinci
(1452–1519)
– Michelangelo
(1475–1564)

3 Key Principles
• Every structure needs to respect 3 key principles
Firmitatis Utilitatis Venustatis
Stability Utility Beauty
Your product, your
structure needs to be
stable, resist winds and
rain and not fall over when
bad times come
Your product, your
useful, provide value to
the people who will be
using it
Your product, your
attractive, desirable,
admirable
• Too frequently, we forget that the Quality of your
product, your structure must always be a
combination of these three principles

• “Architecture is an imitation of nature. As
birds and bees built their nests, so humans
constructed housing from natural materials,
that gave them shelter against the elements”
• Vitruvius described the human figure as
being the principal source of proportion:
– “Just so the parts of Temples should
correspond with each other, and with the
whole. The navel is naturally placed in the
centre of the human body, and, if in a man
lying with his face upward, and his hands and
feet extended, from his navel as the centre, a
circle be described, it will touch his fingers and
toes. It is not alone by a circle, that the human
body is thus circumscribed, as may be seen by
placing it within a square. For measuring from
the feet to the crown of the head, and then
across the arms fully extended, we find the
latter measure equal to the former; so that
lines at right angles to each other, enclosing
the figure, will form a square”
The Ideal Proportions

• The length of the outspread arms is equal to the height of a man
• From the hairline to the bottom of the chin is one-tenth of the height of a man
• From below the chin to the top of the head is one-eighth of the height of a man
• From above the chest to the top of the head is one-sixth of the height of a man
• From above the chest to the hairline is one-seventh of the height of a man
• The maximum width of the shoulders is a quarter of the height of a man
• From the breasts to the top of the head is a quarter of the height of a man
• The distance from the elbow to the tip of the hand is a quarter of the height of a man
• The distance from the elbow to the armpit is one-eighth of the height of a man
• The length of the hand is one-tenth of the height of a man
• The root of the penis is at half the height of a man
• The foot is one-seventh of the height of a man
• From below the foot to below the knee is a quarter of the height of a man
• From below the knee to the root of the penis is a quarter of the height of a man
• The distances from below the chin to the nose and the eyebrows and the hairline are equal to the
ears and to one-third of the face
The Vitruvian Man

THEN, IN THE 1970S…
The Vitruvian rebirth

• Vitruvian principles were
applied in two books on
architecture by Christopher
Alexander et al
• The Pattern Language
defines the architectural
principles, starting from the
very large and going to the
detail
• Everything should be
designed around the
human proportions and
needsVitruvian Quality 15
A Pattern Language

Communities:
Distribution of towns, City country fingers, Agricultural valleys, Lace of country streets, Country towns, Countryside, Mosaic of subcultures, Scattered work, Magic of the city, Local
transport areas, Community of 7000, Subculture boundary, Identifiable neighbourhood, Neighbourhood boundary, Web of public transportation, Ring roads, Network of
learning, Web of shopping, Mini-buses, Four-story limit, 9% parking, Parallel roads, Access to water, Life cycle, Men and women, Eccentric nucleus, Density rings, Activity notes,
Promenade, Shopping street, Night life, Interchange, Household mix, Degrees of publicness, House cluster, Row houses, Housing hill, Old people everywhere, Work community,
Industrial ribbon, University as a marketplace, Local town hall, Necklace of community projects, Market of many shops, Health centre, Housing in between, Looped local roads, T
junctions, Green streets, Network of paths and cars, Main gateways, Road crossing, Raised walk, Bike paths and racks, Children in the street, Carnival, Quiet backs, Accessible
green, Small public squares, High places, Dancing in the street, Pools and streams, Birth places, Holy ground, Common land, Connected play, Public outdoor room, Grave sites,
Still water, Local sports, Adventure playground, Animals, The family, House for a small family, House for a couple, House for one person, Your own home, Self-governing
workshops and offices, Small services without read tape, Office connections, Master and apprentices, Teenage society, Shopfront schools, Children’s home, Individually owned
shops, Street café, Corner grocery, Beer hall, Traveller's inn, Bus stop, Food stands, Sleeping in public
Individual buildings and the space between:
Building complex, Number of stories (floors, levels), Shielded parking, Circulation realms, Main building, Pedestrian street, Building thoroughfare, Family of entrances, Small
parking lots, Site repair, South facing outdoors, Positive outdoor space, Wings of light, Connected buildings, Long thin house, Main entrance, Half-hidden garden, Entrance
transition, Car connection, Hierarchy of open space, Courtyards which live, Cascade of roofs, Sheltering roof, Roof garden, Arcades, Paths and goals, Path shape, Building fronts,
Pedestrian density, Activity pockets, Stair seats, Something roughly in the middle, Intimacy gradient, Indoor sunlight, Common areas at the heart, Entrance room, The flow
through rooms, Short passages, Staircase as a stage, Zen view, Tapestry of light and dark, Couple’s realm, Children’s realm, Sleeping to the east, Farmhouse kitchen, Private
terrace on the street, A room of one’s own, Sequence of sitting spaces, Bed cluster, Bathing room, Bulk storage, Flexible office space, Communal eating, Small work groups,
Reception welcomes you, A place to wait, Small meeting rooms, Half-private office, Rooms to rent, Teenager’s cottage, Old age cottage, Settled work, Home workshop, Open
stairs, Light on two sides of every room, Building edge, Sunny place, North face, Outdoor room, Street windows, Opening to the street, Gallery surround, Six-foot balcony,
Connection to the earth, Terraced slope, Fruit trees, Tree places, Garden growing wild, Garden wall, Trellised walk, Greenhouse, Garden seat, Vegetable garden, Compost, Alcoves,
Window place, The fire, Eating atmosphere, Workspace enclosure, Cooking layout, Sitting circle, Communal sleeping, Marriage bed, Bed alcove, Dressing room, The shape of
indoor space, Windows overlooking life, Half-open wall, Interior windows, Staircase volume, Corner doors, Thick walls, Closets between rooms, Sunny counter, Open shelves,
Waist-high shelf, Build-in seats, Child caves, Secret place
A buildable building:
Structure follows social spaces, Efficient structure, Good materials, Gradual stiffening, Roof layout, Floor and ceiling layout, Thickening the outer walls, Columns at the corners,
Final column distribution, Root foundations, Ground floor slab, Box columns, Perimeter beams, Wall membranes, Floor-ceiling vaults, Roof vaults, Natural doors and windows,
Low sill, Deep reveals, Low doorway, Frames as thickening edges, Column place, Column connection, Stair vault, Duct space, Radiant heat, Dormer windows, Roof caps, Floor
surface, Lapped outside walls, Soft inside walls, Windows which open wide, Solid doors with glass, Filtered light, Small panes, Half-inch trim, Seat spots, Front door bench, Sitting
wall, Canvas roofs, Raised flowers, Climbing plans, Paving with cracks between the stones, Soft tile and brick, Ornaments, Warm colours, Different chairs, Pools of light, Things
from your life
A Pattern Language
• 253 different topics are
covered…
– From the distribution of
regions in a country
– To the use of chairs and raised
flowers in the home

• In the book, Alexander introduces the concept of the "quality without a name",
and argues that we should seek to include this nameless quality in our
buildings. Alexander attempts to define the idea by surrounding it with
existing concepts that reflect a part of the quality with no name but are not
sufficient to define it individually
• The book's format is somewhat unusual. It is written as a long series of
italicized headlines followed by short sections providing more detail; as
Alexander suggests in the foreword, the 552-page book can be read in an hour
by only reading the headlines, which frame the book's argument. There are
also numerous full-page photo illustrations throughout the book, some of
which are referenced by the text and some of which are simply an additional
visual argument to complement the words.
• The style used in The Timeless Way of Building is also unusual for an
architectural text, at times resembling prose poetry or religious scripture.
Indeed, some consider it not primarily an architectural work at all but "a book
on philosophy with architectural examples."
The Timeless Way of Building
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Timeless_Way_of_Building

• In the book, Alexander introduces the concept of the
"quality without a name", and argues that we should
seek to include this nameless quality in our buildings.
Alexander attempts to define the idea by surrounding
it with existing concepts that reflect a part of the
quality with no name but are not sufficient to define
it individually
Read that Again…

And one more quote
It has had a huge influence on
creative thinking, especially in
the areas of architecture and
software design

PATTERNS IN SOFTWARE
How Architecture inspired development principles…

• Patterns originated as an
architectural concept by
Christopher Alexander
(1977/78)
• “A Pattern Language” is said
to have inspired “Design
Patterns: Elements of
Reusable Object-Oriented
Software” published in
1994 by the so-called
"Gang of Four"
Software Development Patterns

Sample IT Patterns

• Pattern types
– Layered
– Client-Server
– Master-Slave
– Pipe-filter
– Broker
– Peer-to-Peer
– Event-Bus
– Model-View-Controller
– Blackboard
– Interpreter
• Basic concepts
–Reusable
–Simple
–Building blocks
–Decomposition of
complex products
Sample Patterns
https://towardsdatascience.com/10-common-software-architectural-patterns-in-a-nutshell-a0b47a1e9013

• Make it easier to make complex products
–Repeatedly
–Predictability
–Reliably
The Purpose of Patterns

BUT QUALITY NEEDS MORE…
Quality is not just engineering

• Quality is what your clients say it is
• Quality is produced by people
• People need to be happy at work to produce Quality
What is Quality

• Patterns help with the
traditional quality factors and
criteria:
– Firmitatis (Stability)
– Utilitatis (Utility)
• But engineering patterns fail
on Venustatis (Desirability)
– This requires clear
management vision and
guidance
• The “Quality with no Name”
Patterns Help

VITRUVIAN QUALITY
Getting the Focus

• Business Quality and
Structure are a complex
series of communications
• These need to be kept
aligned
• These need to manage
the business from long-
term vision to daily tasks
The Basic Concept

• Squaring the circle of
Quality
• The square represents
basic management
concepts
• The circle represents the
cultural concepts
VQ Overview

• Typically an organisation
needs two vision statements
– The commercial vision
statement establishes the
reason for the business and
sets out why you would want
to visit us rather than our
competitors
– The internal vision statement
is probably more important
and establishes why staff
would want to work here and
stay here in the future
In setting out the walls of a city, the choice
of a healthy situation is of the first
importance: it should be on high ground,
neither subject to fogs nor rains; its aspects
should be neither violently hot nor intensely
cold, but temperate in both respects
Vision
(Vitrivius)

• The policy defines why something needs to be
done
• The policy is applicable to everyone in the
organisation including senior management; it
comes from the top and is respected at every
level
• Policies are in place for many years
• The policy does not define how things are
done but establish basic cultural expectations:
– Work ethics
– Dress codes
– Absences and holiday
– Environmental rules
– Etc.
• The company policy is not attached to projects,
products or people
• Policies may be implemented in teams, they
complete and respect the top policy
Nothing requires the
architect’s care more than the
due proportions of buildings
Policy
(Vitrivius)

• The strategy translates the
vision and policy into
tangible results: if the vision
was to become reality, what
would be noticed by the
people impacted, what
benefit would come from
achieving the vision
• The strategy determines the
priorities for implementing
the vision and overcoming
the risks and issues
The lanes and streets of the city
being set out, the choice of sites for
the convenience and use of the state
remains to be decided on: for sacred
edifices, for the forum and for other
public buildings
Strategy
(Vitrivius)

• Processes implement the policies
• Processes are there to support
the people doing the work
• The processes establish
– Clear measurable objectives and
outcomes
– High-level flows of data and
information
• A process is defined in such a way
that a change in technology or
training does not impact it
• The process defines what needs
to be done
Consistency is found in that
work whose whole and detail are
suitable to the occasion. It arises
from circumstance, custom and
nature
Process
(Vitrivius)

• Technology is the combination of
tools, including hardware and
templates used
• Technology works with the
process to support the people
• Technologies are only purchased
or implemented after
– Analysis and study
– A detailed understanding of
• how they fit into the organisation
• the role they are supposed to fulfil
– Needed professional assistance in
setting them up efficiently
Architecture is a science arising
out of many other sciences and
adorned with much and varied
learning; by the help of which
judgement is formed of those works
which are the result of other parts
Technology
(Vitrivius)

• Training is at the centre of the
business
• Training is needed to stay fresh, learn
new techniques, understand new
possibilities
• Without training, you may be
applying techniques and solutions
that are out of date and inefficient
• The purpose is to instruct people on
– how to use technology
– apply procedures
– use a tool efficiently
• It involves showing the usage and the
results so that they can rapidly get
into standard working practices
Wherefore the mere practical
architect is not able to assign
sufficient reasons for the forms he
adopts, and the theoretic architect
also fails, grasping the shadow
instead of the substance
Training
(Vitrivius)

• Continuous Improvement
is the basis that allows
future efficiency
• Ensuring that the previous
elements are in place
allows employees to
identify more effective
approaches to using the
technology and processes
to achieve the vision
Wind is a floating wave of air
whose undulation continually
varies
Continuous Improvement
(Vitrivius)

• Roles and responsibilities are
frequently forgotten
• Identify, define and
communicate each individual’s
– Role
– Responsibility
– Authority
– Career path
– Skills progression
• It is critical for people to
understand how they fit into
the organisation
For an object under the eye will
appear very different from the
same object placed above it; in an
enclosed space, very different
from the same in an open space
Roles and Responsibilities
(Vitrivius)

• Feedback is critical for quality
improvement
• Feedback needs to be
– Justified
– Quick
– Frequent
– Positive
– Constructive
• Yearly performance reviews
are confrontational,
demotivating and counter-
productive
Since therefore individuals as well as
the public are so indebted to these
writers for the benefits they enjoy, I
think them not only entitled to the
honour of palms and crowns, but even
to be numbered among the gods
Feedback
(Vitrivius)

• The culture is the attitude staff
display when no one is
around, it covers what staff
believe to be “natural”,
“normal” and “obvious”
• A culture review is when an
independent (objective)
person to conduct a
confidential review
• Culture and culture change
can be tested through an
“astonishment report” by
recent joiners
But I have not sought to amass wealth
by the practice of my art, having been
rather contented with a small fortune
and a reputation, than desirous of
abundance accompanied by a want of
reputation
Culture
(Vitrivius)

• Free-flow of communication needs to
be facilitated and structured
• Bottom-up: employees can contact
top management when necessary,
but will prefer to respect the “chain of
commandment”
• Top-down: employees are informed
and understand management’s
objectives, trust in the state of the
business
• Sideways: no one is overwhelmed
with pointless communications, but
knows what, when and where to find
the data they need
Beauty is produced by the
pleasing appearance and good
taste of the whole and by the
dimensions of all the parts being
duly proportioned to each other
Communication
(Vitrivius)

• Training is learning to follow
steps, education is learning
why steps are necessary and
where they are leading
• Education means that
everyone understands what
is really critical and focuses
on that
– Client satisfaction
– Keeping costs down
– Developing new products
– …
Perhaps to the uninformed, it may appear
unaccountable that a man should be able to
retain in his memory such a variety of
learning, but the close alliance with each
other of the different branches of science will
explain the difficulty
Education
(Vitrivius)

• Everyone understands
how the tasks they are
doing, the procedures
they must follow fit into
the overall picture
• Tasks and procedures are
understood in their
relative importance to the
overall business
Economy consists in a due and
proper application of the means
afforded according to the ability of
the employer and the situation
chosen; care being taken that the
expenditure is prudently conducted
Tasks and Procedures
(Vitrivius)

• Dimensions regulate the
general scale of the work,
so that the parts may all
tell and be effective
Vitruvian Quality
(Vitrivius)

FRACTAL PROCESSES
Just one more slide

• Combining a Vitruvian
Quality Flow with Fractal
Processes creates a solid
environment in which
people will deliver quality
most efficiently
• Every activity should be the
reflection of a complete
project:
– Analyse what you are required
to do
– Determine the best approach
– Plan what resources you need
– Estimate how long it will take
– Do the work
– Monitor progress
– Record the time it took
Fractal Process

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Vitruvian Quality

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