Architecture in Practice

On May12th I attended a book launch and seminar called ‘architecture in practice’. I worked with one of the authors, Hans Tönissen, in a project. I met and corresponded with The other author, Guido Bayens, on several occasions. The day seemed a bit like a reunion because I met a few colleagues from my past employer too. That felt very nice.

Chairman of the day was Harry van Zon. He connected the different contributions of the speakers very smoothly. The day had six themes:

• The making of the book ‘architectuur in de praktijk’
• The function of architecture within (our) companies
• Professionalizing the function of architecture
• Connecting the architect and other professions within a company
• Innovation with architecture
• Developing architecture proposition

Architecture in practice – Architectuur in de praktijk

The book contains an easy to read explanation of different views on (IT) architecture. The authors have integrated a few of the approaches that are being used in the market today and looked for a way to connect these to TOGAF standards and methodology. I think they did a really good job!
When one looks at the many approaches and ways to do architecture, you realize that an architect can never have in-depth knowledge about all the approaches, let alone apply them. So you really have to work in multidisciplinary teams. I agree with this.
Hans and Guido are looking at the possibility to organize recognized certification for architects. Both are connected to the Novius Architecture Academy and teach there.

After ‘the making of the bookâ’ several other speakers enlightened us with their insights.

Professor Theo Camps elaborated on organizational issues and architecture and talked about the difference between architecture as an art and architecture as a craftsmanship.

After lunch I had to choose between four parallel sessions: The first choice was between ‘developing architecture’ at a large Dutch insurance company or ‘architects and projects’ at the Dutch Railways, the second choice was between ‘governance and change with architecture’ at Province Flevoland and ‘the making of a business architecture’ at Holland Casino. Difficult choices!

Knowledge & skills of an architect

After a short break at 3 pm, we split into different smaller groups to discuss certain topics. I joined the group that discussed what qualifies an architect. We talked about whether an architect should be a generalist of specialist, what rolls he/she has to fulfill, and what knowledge, skills and behavior is needed. Furthermore we identified what you could do (practice) to gain experience and what instrument could be used. Great discussion and very practical suggestions! This is the conclusions we reached:

Knowledge and awareness

• Knowledge of how to get from strategy to design
• Overall business knowledge (generalist) with some knowledge of some domain-specific issues (specialist)
• Knowledge of the (type of) organization
• Awareness of the state of affairs / maturity of architecture and informal structures
• Awareness of the phase the organization and architecture (role) is in
• Knowledge of the roles that are present within the organization
• Affinity with ICT (preferably not too technical)

Skills

• Ability to work together to reach consistency
• Ability to connect architecture with business strategy
• Ability to create a platform for consistency
• Ability to translate architecture into principles and instructions
• Ability to consider organizational design as a constraint
• Ability to direct
• Ability to communicate
• Ability to act as an adviser or partner to C-level management and senior partners of the organization

Behavior

• respect for specialization and understanding of the specialist
• Courage to pioneer
• Patience, continued willingness to teach and explain
• Align with business
• Continue learning

Means

• Getting applicable experience (with change) by doing just that
• Change jobs every 5 years
• Give presentations
• Selling architecture within your own company
• ‘Catch-up talks’ with colleagues
• Take up more difficult or complicated cases
• Horizontal and vertical networking
• Inter vision with colleagues, coaching and training

As I said, I was part of the discussion group, and I agree with all of the ‘features’ mentioned. As an architect you need to have many competencies and skills, but you don’t need to know about everything. With your communication skills, eagerness to learn and ability to connect you will succeed.

The day ended with some networking and I spoke to several nice people. It was a very interesting and nice day. Thanks!