I have been dismayed at the LinkedIn hype in all realms these days. The oversold products, the change the world overnight descriptions, the perfect world that technology is going to create while it creates so much that looks and feels dystopian (subscription services, cyber-bullies, influencer syndrome, environmental issues). But above all I am saddened by the bull@^&! about architects and architecture.
If you follow these posts architects are way beyond superhuman. We read philosophy in the moments before executive meetings. We jump to the aid of any human on any topic because we are experts at all of them. We have never-ending empathy for people who quite frankly are rude and dismissive to our profession. We can learn any technology, business process, pattern or ecosystem in under 24 hrs. We are technology, business, engineers, and philosophers who are part warrior, part shaman, and part psychologist. We can easily adapt to any specialization (who needs depth in a subject matter? That is sooo 1990s). And we are eternally optimistic about the future of everything.
And the scary part is that some of the architects I interview are actually trying to live up to this inflated reputation.
So What Are We?
Architects are well, humans. We live, work, laugh, fail, and succeed. We go home and tell our spouses that we got laid off by the new CTO. We sometimes work long hours. Sometimes we are lazy. Some of us lie. Some are less skilled than others. We dislike the fact that so few people understand what we do. We dislike the fact that so many people expect us to solve every type of problem in the world. We are scared that someone will find out we don’t come close to knowing everything.
I have had the privilege and the honor to interview, speak to, and work with more architects than I think anyone else on the planet.
For 24 years, I have flown around and talked to anyone who even remotely claimed to be an architect. Chief architects, college students, junior programmers, business architects, infrastructure, information, you name it.
I have gotten to do this in almost every region in the world. Peru, Australia, Japan, France, England, Tennessee, New York, Sweden, Mexico, parts of Africa (I need to do more interviews there!). Over 50 countries and I’m not stopping. Because it isn’t the industry elites that define a profession. It is the next generation.
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Stop for a moment and let that sink in. While I find it interesting what some thought leader says about AI. Or integration. Or software design. Or business skills. They are the exception. Not the rule.
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A profession is made up of a very few elites, a slightly larger group of very senior practitioners, and a HUGE body of people who are on the journey. And every single one of those people wants to be good at their work.
If they can find someone to help them, to guide them, to mentor them.
And not in some grandiose philosophical theory. In the practical. The mundane. Don’t tell them they have to create big strategic roadmaps. Help them create their first product roadmap! Do they put epics on there? Should those be connected to the project timeline? Do they connect to a github issue? How do they communicate it? What shapes should they use? Should the arrows go up? Be dotted? What happens next? What does that connect to?
Architects are not super-human. Most learned to be good by failing miserably dozens or hundreds of times. Many got the title handed to them. Many gave it to themselves. Most come from spectacularly different backgrounds. Most have a very different skill set. Most disagree with each other. When I say most, I mean a statistical number…
The Are No Architect Career Paths
When someone gets online and says, ‘Real Architects’, I puke a little. There are no real architects. Because there is no common definition of what that means. What competencies should they have? How were those competencies measured and by whom? Did the person who measured them have a working model by which to compare their work?
To make a real architect repeatedly, we have to get together and agree what that means. Specifically. Repeatably. Over and over and over again. Tens of thousands of times and learn from each one how to do it better as a group!
Today’s titled architects come from RADICALLY different backgrounds and have radically different thoughts about what the term means. I know. I have interviewed them. From John Zachman, to Len Bass, to Aaron Tan Dani, to the person I interviewed earlier this week. To my class in Poland. From students to chiefs.
Sure, there are some patterns of behavior that I have seen emerge. And Iasa has gotten quite good at helping professionals who fit that pattern improve their careers. But when someone tells you THEY know what architecture is, take it from me, they have something to sell you.
BTW Iasa sells training to sustain the non-profit, so feel free to point this out in the comments 🙂 I guess I have something to sell you too ha!
Right now, the world of architecture is made up of unicorns telling you that you, too, can be a unicorn. Everyone knows we need a unicorn and how to become a unicorn…
So What’s the Truth?
The truth is, this is a hard job. The competency model for a successful architect is large, difficult to learn, and most of employers do not recognize or give you opportunities to do it very often. They have defined their own internal model, from ‘all architects are programmers’ to ‘all architects work with the CEO’.
The truth is simple. Study. Experiment. Ask tough questions. Simple answers are not the answer. You do not have to be everything to everyone. Business architects aren’t right, but neither are software architects.
The truth is that we are often under-recognized, over-worked, and under-appreciated. We land a huge project and marketing takes the credit. We save the company millions, and IT management does. We work long hours on things others don’t want to understand. We do it because we are architects. It’s in our blood to build cathedrals and solve hard problems. But it isn’t easy.
Right now, our communities are tribal. Some are working to fix it. Inside an organization, it is often very hard to get the types of architects to pull together. We are able to do it, but it takes as much unlearning as it takes learning. And it is still fraught with arguments and challenges.
Above all, fight hype. Fight final solutions. Please stop listening to ‘wise linkedin posts’ (like this one). Find a community of architects that represents ALL levels, not just the top. Find a group that feels like your people, then reach out to those who don’t and see what you can learn from them. I guarantee you it will be worth it. Look for leaders who talk about their failures more than their successes.
Remember, the world will get used to technology, and architecture will be a profession. Right now, we have to be a bit bigger, a bit better, because the world doesn’t really get us yet. They will. It will be ok.