[2][3] The concept was popularized by developer Joel Spolsky in his 2001 essay, "Don't let architecture astronauts scare you",[3][4] in which he criticized their tendency to see patterns in everything as "absurd".
An abstract approach to software architecture can help build an understanding of the bigger picture, and the ability to communicate ideas to a broad group of stakeholders can be valuable.
[6] While they may impress others initially with their ability to speak confidently and at extremely high levels of abstraction,[3] their actual designs often lack technical depth and practicality.
[6] Demonstrating little regard for logistical details about how their ideas should be executed, they may ultimately lose the respect of their development teams.
[2] Other projects that have been characterized as the work of architecture astronauts include XHTML 2.0, which HTML5 evangelist Bruce Lawson described in 2010 as "a beautiful specification of philosophical purity that had absolutely no resemblance to the real world.