I attended DevWeek 2012 earlier this year and was fortunate enough to be present for a number of very informative presentations. One particular talk which stood out was by Simon Brown titled “The Frustrated Architect” – which is currently available to view online.
As the name suggests the talk covered software architecture and a number of “frustrations” software architects face in the modern day IT world. A lot of IT folks can tell you what an architect does on a project but how correct are they? Is their opinion on an architect’s role in a project team accurate and one which provides enough benefit for a successfully delivery? Should an architect understand the code and even get hands on? How are they effectively managing risk? Are they a mentor to the rest of the team? And ultimately how does an architect move away from being frustrated about what makes them great at what they do so that they can deliver a successful project.
If you’re a developer evolving into an architectural role, or spend time between the two, then you’ll also find this very informative. Simon comes from a similar background and has a lot of useful advice to offer.
In addition Simon imparts a lot of very guidance, without being overly pushy, about how to best architect software; no egos, no AaaS (Architect as a Service) architects, use upfront prototyping, appropriate usage of UML, etc. which proved informative as well as reassuring – I can’t tell you how many projects I was involved on in my early days as a developer where the architects only involvement was at the start and heaven forbid you ever queried the practicality of their technical design.
You can view “The Frustrated Architect” presentation (1 hour, 9 min) on the Skills Matter website if you’re interested. Unfortunately you can’t resize it but it’s still large enough to follow. You can also visit Simon’s official website: Coding the Architecture if you’re interested in learning more about this particular topic.
If you take the time to view this presentation I’m sure it will provide you with some reassurance and direction to your thoughts and approach on this particular role.
Good luck.
Bernie Cook's Blog 
November 25, 2012 at 9:37 PM
It was a great talk, that and Kevlin Henney’s talk were the highlights for me. Been trying to put some of what he was talking about into practice, and it certainly has helped. Thanks for pointing out the link, I’ll be sure to pass it round my team.
November 26, 2012 at 6:40 AM
I see Kevlin Henney is presenting at DevWeek next year (2013) so I look forward to seeing some of his talks. Have you read any of his books?
November 26, 2012 at 9:48 AM
I haven’t, I’ll have to take a gander as I’ve seen a couple of good talks from him. Can you recommend any?
November 26, 2012 at 7:17 PM
No, but I think I’ll definitely pick up his “97 Things Every …” books once I’ve finished the current text I’m working through. If it’s of any help this link might be useful: http://www.infoq.com/author/Kevlin-Henney – it contains links to several of his talks (videos and related slides). I’m a huge advocate of pragmatic development and architecture so these types of presentations are music to my ears 🙂