Architecture plays a key role in ensuring the success of an application development effort. But architecture is often “in the eye of the beholder.” This talk will describe the need to break down architecture into two major thrusts at the outset. We will see how architectural decisions need to be made at the right level of detail, and at the right time in the project, so that the project trajectory can be optimized. There is a great deal of balancing that needs to be done when architecting. Some of it is gut feel, while other times it is measurable. There is also a risk of doing too much unrewarding architectural effort. We need to learn how to do just enough architecting, but no more. A case study will bolster the presentation’s main points.