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What is a Architect?

May 14, 2008

 I attended the first meeting of the new Cincinnati Architect users group (CinArc) to find out the answer to this question. I have been struggling with this question for a long time. Since this was the first meeting, there was a lot of discussion about what the group should and should not be. Attendees did not want a place to just sit and listen to speakers. They wanted a place to openly discuss the issues, challenges and technologies that come with the role of Architect. Yes, I said ‘role’ not ‘title’. More on that later. The format of the meetings is still not totally decided, but the format of a ‘fish bowl’ style of discussion group worked very well for last nights open discussion on this topic. It also kept the conversation on track and under control with 20+ people there.

What is a Architect? Is it the guy that wonders the halls with a chip on his shoulder and thinks he has all the answers … Yes. It is the guy who sit quietly in the corner cube and know how everything works … Yes. It is the guy that everyone looks to for technical leadership … Yes. Is it the guy  who works with the business team and the development team to deliver a solution to a business need … Yes. I listened to a lot of opinions on what people considered a architect to be. Here are some of the qualities of an architect that come out in the meeting:

  • Knows the value of business and how to work with them to provide solutions
  • Bridges the gap between business and IT
  • See the ‘Big Picture’ and keeps everything on course
  • Advocates change ( In technology and business)
  • Mentors
  • Designs repeatable solutions
  • Defines processes
  • Creates conceptual solutions to prove concepts
  • Codes

These qualities can be boiled down into 5 compentencies of an architect

  • Technology
  • Leadership
  • Consulting
  • Organizational Politics
  • Business Stragegy

Many companies use roles as titles to help define an individuals value to the company. I think this is where the definition of an architect gets confusing. It can be defined differently based on the company you are working for. A architect at small company A might only be considered a technical lead at large company B. People can be quick to say that they are an ‘Architect’ because the title adds value to them within the company. It can also mean a higher pay scale and more respect, who doesn’t want that. This is partially how I defined an architect, but after last nights meeting I have a different view. Architect is a role that is played on a project. I might be a architect today on a project, a business analyst tomorrow and a coder the next day. Do I have the qualities and competencies of an architect? Yes (depending on who you ask). Should I have the title? No. I move from project to project in my consulting career and may serve as architect on a project or I might just be joining the team to help out with coding an application that has fallen behind schedule. I could even move to the database and being doing tables and stored procedures. The point to my rambling is that we should not define ‘What is a Architect’ just based on technology, but define what are the qualities, skills and competencies of the individual that plays the roles of architect on a project.

Architect vs. Designer/Technical Lead

This can be a tough distinction to make depending on the size of the company you work for. Smaller companies and projects will blur the line between the two just because there are not enough people to clearly define separate roles. I think the distinction between the two is made by the qualities of an architect listed above. An architect can do the technical lead role, but brings more to the table along the lines of business knowledge and the ability to understand what the business wants, work with them to find a solution and understand the costs and ROI involved in the solution.

Types of Architect

This can also be tough distinction depending on the company or project. The meeting produced the following list of types:

  • Enterprise
    • Strategy
    • Sees and understands the ‘Big Picture’ for a company
    • Oversees all applications and infrastructure
    • Works with business leaders (CFO,CTO,CIO)
  • Solution
    • Oversees multiple applications and integration
    • Develops solutions to meet business needs
  • Infrastructure
    • Servers and sever software such as Exchange
    • Capacity planning

———————————————–

  • Data
    • Database and data
  • Business
    • Works with business to improve process and workflow
  • Application
    • Technical lead
    • Coding standards
    • Application specific detai

The separation between the top and bottom three is because the bottom three could all be considered part of the top three depending on the size of the company or project.

These are just my thought on what was discussed in the meeting. Maybe they helped you answer some questions. Maybe they raised more questions. What is a Architect? It will vary depending on who is defining it. To me an architect is a person who can wear many hats and work with business to clarify the ‘Big Picture’ and create solutions that meet needs and provide value to the business. Don’t worry about achieving a title, worry about being good at your job whatever hat your wearing that day.

 

Thanks to Mike Levy, Leon Gersing and Joe Wirtley for an excellent meeting. Joe will be presenting ‘Pragmatic Software Architecture and the Role of the Architect’ at the May 21st Cincinnati Programmers Guild meeting if you are interested. Check out their website for more info. http://cincypg.org/.

Also checkout the Cincinnati .NET users group site for more information on the CinArc group and the new CinArc forum. http://cinnug.org/. Hope to see you at the next meeting.

 

- Jeff

 

 

 

 

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Written by Jeff Rollins · Filed Under Information Technology 

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One Response to “What is a Architect?”

  1. Cincinnati’s Innaugural CinARC « Cincinnati IT - an andy erickson blog on May 14th, 2008 7:37 pm

    [...] a bit. All in all, about 30 attended BS - Before Spillover. @jengrif showed up BS. Jeff Rollins wrote up his interpretation of the evening, and I’m glad he attended, as he’s been asking me for 3 years what an [...]

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