What is an architect?
Note:
This article is based on my own professional experience as an architect and mentor/coach/practice leader for architects. The list below is not meant to be definitive or exhaustive.
Bard
Definition
An architect is someone who translates wishes, dreams and expectations of a client into a workable plan and guides others in executing that plan.
Required skills
Below is a list of knowledge, skills and capabilities an IT architect/consultant needs throughout the design process, organised roughly along the steps from the first contact with the client to the actual implementation.
Listening and understanding:
- create trust
- appear knowledgeable, certain and reliable
- show real interest in the client
- people will have to want to entrust their dreams and wishes to the architect
- be able to recognise the message behind the words
- have a feeling for what motivates and moves people
- be able to unearth those motivations from the communication
- recognise non-verbal communication, interpreted this correctly and act accordingly
- empathise to understand what someone's real problem is
- recognise the needs of the client/stakeholders and anticipate on them
- be able to value the human component with the client
- recognise power relations
- recognise stakeholders
- recognise cooperation and resistance and be able to cope with that
- understand the context of the problem
- understand why that client has that problem
- recognise and understand the underlying processes and problems
Overseeing the total picture (both of the present and the future situation):
- be able to abstract
- be able to visualise
- be able to think in networks and circles (systems thinking)
- be able to see relations and frameworks
Assessing possibilities:
- have excellent, up-to-date professional knowledge
- be an early adaptor with a high change capability
- be able to estimate the possibilities and boundaries of current state-of-the-art technology
- be able to see how new and existing technology could be used to solve as yet unsolved problems
- be able to use that knowledge to estimate the merits/desirability/limitations of a range of alternative scenarios
- from a technical/professional point of view
- from a thorough understanding of the (human) context of the client’s demands and situation
Forming a personal vision:
- be in touch with one's own intuition
- trust one's own intuition
- be able to delve into and call upon one's own creativity and inspiration
Bringing visions together (one’s own and that of the client/stakeholder):
- have excellent communication skills
- excel in recognising commonalities
- excel in playing 'give & take' without losing and compromising one's own integrity & vision
- be able to inspire and motivate people
Concretising the vision:
- turn it into 'creatable' components
- be able to simultaneously think holistically and reductionistic
- be able to switch perspectives
- have enough technical knowledge to:
- know what is 'technically' feasible
- have the skills and desire to push the boundaries of what is technically feasible
- track and solve internal conflicts in the vision
- be able to work with 'black boxes'
- be able to leave part-problems unresolved till later without limiting
- the general picture and thinking about them(delayed evaluation)
- intimately know one's own strengths and weaknesses
- be able to employ one's own strengths
- be able to compensate for/resolve one's own limitations
- employ other people
- find reference material
- be able to deal with uncertainties and unknowns
- estimate uncertainties and unknowns (intuition and experience)
- deal flexibly with change
- be comfortable with new information, ideas, approaches
Communicating the vision:
- be able to communicate the essential
- on various levels
- from different angles
- be able to speak the language of the audience
- be able to stick to one's own opinion, even under pressure
- not be intimidated
- be familiar with one's own emotional reactions and be able to deal with them
- be able to recognise group emotions, value them and act accordingly
- use persuasion techniques
- be able to present professionally
- have excellent writing skills
Leading and guiding the change/implementation process:
- possess leadership qualities
- be inspiring and directing through personal example
- be able to work in teams
- possess good social skills
- be able to cooperate
- be good in conflict management
- be able to apply effective persuasion techniques
- be able to listen openly
- be able to convincingly get a message across.
