<p>Nicholas Vasilius, Manager Data Science & Engineering DAF Trucks ‘The value of a minimum viable architecture’ Nicholas Vasilius has been responsible for data science & data engineering at DAF Trucks since May 2021. Before that, he held various leadership roles for the American parent company PACCAR, mostly with a focus on data and analytics. During his keynote at CIODAY 2022, he talks about the value of a ‘minimum viable architecture’. Vasillius was closely involved in the digital development of PACCAR, including the choice for a cloud-based digital platform and ditto solutions. According to him, an important new core system for DAF Trucks was ‘over-architectured’: too complex and full of unnecessary features. The American division could do that better and faster. In the end, from the US in an iterative a platform was delivered that did justice to expectations. A matrix-like architecture: loosely coupled, API-based, domain-driven and so on. Very different from the platform originally developed in the Netherlands, right? Well… not in terms of the ultimate functionality and features. Vasillius: “We had not realized that they had started working here on the basis of Dutch Design Thinking – in fact the polder model in the digital world, in which the interests of all involved are covered. Very suitable in life or death situations, and battles against water. But maybe not if rapid product development is the goal.” What it taught Nicholas Vasillius is that as a digital leader you need to have a high-over vision – seeing economies, businesses and IT landscapes as living and self-evolving systems. The concept minimum viable architecture fits perfectly in this this, based on a workable number of principles and starting points, agile design and iterative delivery. “Enough of good examples”, says the Data Science & Engineering Manager. Both in the physical and digital world. And also with Dutch roots.</p>