If you ask just about any IT Director, Manager, or even PM, they’ll tell you that Architects are amongst the toughest resources to find.  I’ve experienced this so often either when helping clients build their teams, or when I’ve tried to build them myself.

Architect Boot Camp training was designed to help organizations train their own staff, or to help those in IT who have an affinity towards high end design & IT Strategy, but want to hone or learn Architect Methods, Process and Approach.  The objective is to deliver the theory, while using real life scenarios and then practice through case studies and exercises.

This fall our IT Architect Boot Camp workshop is now full, and we have but one spot left in our Solution Architect Workshop.  We had to move to larger space to deliver the workshops, and I’m sure with the great mix of staff and experience, they’ll be a good experience for all attendees.

If we can’t find architects, we’ve got to grow our own.  We need to optimize our IT dollars, and now more than ever we need to make sure we’re building and designing the right things.  Just ask John Zachman - he’ll tell you that Architecture is the ONLY way we can improve our success rate.  Only three days to go until the start of this first public offering this fall, so this blog entry will have to be short.

By the beginning of November, there will be several more architects ready to provide value to their organizations.  We must applaud organizations who believe that investments in their people are good ones, and won’t be impacted by rough economic times.

Happy Architecting

Happy Holiday Weekend to my Canadian Friends,

Some of you luck ones may have fled your cubes, offices or project rooms - and for those of you left, you might be in for a little reading.

If you have been considering the Canadian training coming up October 20-24th, there are still 3 spots available in the IT Architect Boot Camp workshop, and 4 spots in the Solution Architect workshop.  It will exciting as the exercises and labs have been a real treat to create and will be fun and challenging for the participants.  I truly wanted the attendees to experience what it was like to be put into the position of being an IT Architect, and a Solution Architect in a variety of situations.

For those of you watching the Google Group posts, or the IT tool box posts, there has been one of the most lively weeks I’ve seen for a really long time with many chiming in on the “types of architects” threads.  I’ve almost jumped in many times this week, and it took real discipline to get back to the training preparation I have been doing, and to keep my eyes off of the email, as well as dismal world news that is flooding our eyes, ears and households.

My hope for all of you is that Architecture is, and will remain to be alive, well and thriving in your companies and that those around you see what an incredible job you are doing with your projects and programs.  I hope you are in a position to enhance and tune your skills in the soft skills area, as well as in the areas in which you consult with peers and business folk alike.  During these tough times, you may be called upon to come up with some creative ways to continue business with less funding, and help the teams in your finance areas plan quickly.

If we can use some of the scenario analysis skills we’ve gained during our architecture training, as well as skills as an organizational politician and consultant, we should be able to add value to our business teams as they are trying to figure out how to continue to move towards corporate goals.  One of the soft skills we rarely touch on is empathy, and just trying to really understand what they are going through, before pressing on with the transitions that we had planned for systems inthe company is one of the things we can do to help.

It is your job as the architects to constantly keep a finger on the pulse of your business stakeholders.  Rather than keeping our heads down and surging forward with our work, we need to check in and make sure that they still feel that we are going in the right direction and that we are still spending our time and energy on the right things.

Happy Thanksgiving to my friends in Canada, and Happy Architecting to everyone.

Sharon

Want to become a great architect?  Why not join our Architect Professional Site - entirely aimed at creating GREAT IT Architects!

Recently I was asked that if a person was already acting in the role of a software integrator, did they really need to learn how to be an Architect.  The answer was a little bit complicated, but it was an emphatic “yes!”

While the basis or core skills of a great IT architect does come from solid software integration knowledge and practice, the basic practices, approaches and thought processes as well as ways of thinking in the correct context is what is taught during an IT Architecture workshop.  Various approaches and ways of thinking allows an IT Architect to get a new perspective of the various contexts they must review before choosing a solution or constructing an architecture.

There are various thoughts on how one becomes an IT Architect, and granted there are so many ways to get here, the result is the same.  In order to become good or even excellent, the Architect takes on a different mind set.  There are various perspectives that are reviewed, and as well, various options with respect to ways about thinking about the issue, problem or opportunity are reviewed.

The architect considers more than fitting two pieces of software together, and the approach learned in a workshop will take them through the business objectives and IT Enterprise objectives, through to the various decision making techniques and options for formulating a solution.  Typically the instructions given to an integrator are taken after an architect has determined the best approach and seen best fit for the components that are selected.

During these exercises, the architect takes on a different approach with respect to requirements analysis, solution review, as well as some softer skills to deal with the political and communication parts of the equation.  Often integrators are given something very specific to be done, as well as a roadmap for doing so.  The architect takes part or creates that roadmap, and many more variables are considered than may be actually visible to the integrator.

Finally - there are various approaches that an architect learns to getting from A to B.  They learn to view a solution from a multitude of angles, and those which will enable them to see their way to the minimal path of risk.  In part, the approaches are part of the culture of the organization for which they must have an appreciation for, as well as a component of the overal IT & Business Strategies.

Hopefully that sheds a bit of light on the benefits of learning to become an IT Architect, rather than skipping these important steps.  For more information on training, see our site.

Happy Architecting.