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The Evolution of an Architect

Classic career progression in IT usually starts as a junior something - developer, support technican or similar. We gain some experience and move through more senior roles. Over time, gaining extensive technical depth and breadth, we land our first role as an architect.

What follows are the evolutionary steps you'll take as an architect to deliver successful projects.

1. Domain Expert

Our technical breadth and depth got us here, and in conjunction with the domain expertise we've picked up (financial services maybe, or healthcare, logistics...), we're equipped to design the best of the best architecture, of ever ©®™, patent pending.

Problem is, the best architecture isn't what's required.

2. Politician

Step 2 is becoming a first-rate politician - winning over detractors, setting goals and achieving them. You make tough decisions, and learn to compromise. You become a skilled but fair negotiator, garner people's trust and establish credibility. You remember things about people - anecdotes that help establish rapport later.

This leads to a good architecture, but a good architecture isn't what's required.

3. Strategist

As a strategist you devise a plan to achieve a goal under conditions of uncertianty. You determine what you want to achieve, and how you want to to achieve it. Be mindful of not mistaking tactics for strategy -- both answer how you will achieve your goal. However strategy is the overarching plan, while tactics are used to achieve only a specific element of the plan.

A good resource for learning more about strategy and leadership is Sun Tzu's Art of War. Wikipedia's list of the 13 Chapters serves well as a quick introducion. I made this diagram (based off another, more generic version which I can't find anymore) because it's succinct -

Leader - That's you. The one that devises the strategy to achieve the objective, and then executes it.
Immutables - These are all the things in the environment you cannot change. Corporate culture, for instance. That old banking app written in COBOL. The power and political landscape (possibly mutable in the long term).
Resources - Your team (their expetise) and how you apply them, the extant IT estate, and your budget, amongst others.
Mutables - These are things you have control over. You could choose to apply resources to a guerilla war, or a war of attrition. You could choose to build a web app, a phone app, or a desktop app; go agile or waterfall...
Philosophy - These are the personal (as they apply to the Leader), corporate and/or cultural values that will guide the entire strategy, from planning to execution, and on to success or failure.

4. Leader

Wikipedia's opening sentence on leadership (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership) -

Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations.

Pop culture (specifically Tony Robbins') definition of leadership (https://www.tonyrobbins.com/what-is-leadership/) -

The definition of leadership is to influence, inspire and help others become their best selves, building their skills and achieving goals along the way. You don't have to be a CEO, manager or even a team lead to be a leader. Leadership is a set of skills - and a certain psychology - that anyone can master. Leadership is not a zero-sum equation.

The IT world is much like any other in that it employs people to achieve a goal. The leader guides them. I can't do much better than suggesting you read through the links above, other than good leadership being crucial to a successful architecture. It's the hardest part to get right, for all of the reasons given in the Wikipedia article.

Combing what you've learnt as a domain expert, politician, becoming a master of strategy and being a leader, you're equipped to build what's required - a successful architecture.

Attribution

This post is based on principles developed by www.bredemeyer.com/howto and the amazing Dr. Sylvia Croxall's work on the Cons2Arch programme at Microsoft.

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