What can I do to become a good IT architect?

Date: 2024-10-17 17:49

In my environment I increasingly encounter people who indicate that they want to become an architect. When you are a good, successful engineer, that is quite a big step, so they ask for advice. What exactly does that mean? What skills do I need? Does this mean I'll be in meetings all day?

Communicate with non-techies about technology

The more good IT people are able to translate technical issues: opportunities, threats, weaknesses into 'normal' human language, the better. According to Dennis Mulder^, former CTO of Microsoft Netherlands, every IT professional who can explain IT issues to business employees is an architect. And we can't get enough of that quickly.

Stakeholders

During the course 'IT architecture in practice' the teacher said the following. 'IT architecture often comes down to dealing with stakeholders. When I ask you a question and you have just dozed off, answer "stakeholders". In many cases you will then have given the correct answer. Dealing with stakeholders is what makes the profession of architect significantly different from the profession of designer or software developer.

A model

Make good decisions

As an IT architect, everything starts with awareness of the available technologies and patterns. This is necessary to make the most important decisions and define the solutions needed for the organization where you work. Everything is documented in 'your' reference architecture. CIBIT can certainly help you here. Arcitura offers good online material that allows you to study at your own pace.

Be effective

What if you have no experience creating software or implementing IT infrastructure, but you have to make a million-dollar IT decision? It is difficult to invest in something that is difficult to understand. If key decision makers cannot be convinced to choose your target architecture, the added value of defining this carefully crafted architecture is significantly reduced.

Dr. John Ullmen (3) offers a great course on influencing. In the booklet entitled 'Why Therefore' by Johannes de Geus, Jolanda Bouman (4) you will find tips for arguing. Especially useful if you find yourself in an environment where decisions are made more politically than content-driven.

Be a leader

And then it worked. The money is available to continue with the target architecture. But what if the teams have difficulty designing and coding it? Unfortunately, there is still not much value added.

Personality and IQ are more or less fixed. However, emotional intelligence can be improved and will help you inspire, motivate and lead teams. Gemma Leigh Roberts' course has given me a lot of insight (1).

I was lucky enough to be advised to read Victor Grgic's article on 'The Serving Architect', a must-read for every IT architect working in an Agile environment (2). Unfortunately the full article has been removed. Send a message when you have it available!

And finally, you definitely don't want to miss the cartoon (2) by David Marquet. He brings it all back to giving intention and offering clarity. You could end up working for one of the best IT departments ever, implementing your architecture.

Finally

The 'Software Architect Elevator' by Gregor Hohpe gives a good impression of what it means to be an architect. Are you unsure about purchasing the book? Then watch his video on the topic Connecting Penthouse and Engine. Once you have watched the video, I would like to test your knowledge with a quiz. See you then!

Sources:

^ Dennis was the closing speaker at the TFG Innovation Event 2024.

This article is a translation of an article that I posted on LinkedIn earlier in 2018. Some new insights have been added.