An introduction to architecture and architects

An Introduction to Architecture and Architects

Warren Weinmeyer

May 2012

Updated: Sept. 2014

Contents

• What is Architecture?

• How does Architecture benefit an organization?

• A closer look: how its structured and delivered

• Architect Roles & Responsibilities

• What to look for in a resume

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Tip: This presentation is best viewed in slide-show mode

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What is Architecture?

Architecture is an answer to the problems caused by compartmentalization in complex organizations.

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• At it’s essence, Architecture is all about recognizing the importance to understand a problem, think through a solution to that problem and methodically drive towards that solution. It seems so easy!

see

plan

act

• But even if everyone did that, there would still be problems, because there’s no-one looking at how all these different ideas interact: it’s all done in a silo.

see

plan

act

seeplanact

see

plan

actseeplan

act

see plan act

see plan act

• Architecture addresses this by looking at problems and opportunities at all levels and scope of an organization, understanding how these may be related, identifying an overall plan, and managing the coordinated realization of harmonious solutions through a reliable process. Architecture is disciplined planning that is holistically integrated with disciplined delivery.

see plan act

see plan actsee plan act

see plan act

Architecture is a Discipline, not a Profession

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• The difference between the two is the standardization of ideas, approaches and qualifications – a profession has that, a discipline is “working on it”

• Architecture as a discipline is similar to Project Management as a discipline:• Project Management has evolved over time to its current state:

• PM used to be done by people who had a “knack” for it: the result was that project success was highly unpredictable. Companies soon recognized that being a PM required specific skills.

• Project Management established itself as a defined discipline as full-time PMs became common, and formalized their lessons learned into best practices that work.

• Now, we have established PM standards and certifications, and good professionals know about them and use.

• Architecture has followed this same trajectory fairly rapidly, but:• has not standardized to the same degree as Project Management, • Project Management was developed to focus on a fairly specific area, but

Architecture as a concept is very broad, so there is a wide variation in what Architecture means from one company to the next and there is wide variation in the qualifications of people who call themselves “architect”

• This makes interviewing for an Architect very challenging: you have to look past the candidate’s role titles and instead look closely at the activities they performed.

Architecture has Matured

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• Despite the variation in how Architecture is being practiced in companies, there is a fairly good agreement on where Architecture as a concept is today

• Architecture philosophies and best practices have been consolidated into just a handful of architecture frameworks

• These frameworks have become increasingly specific and prescriptive, becoming more like cook-books than philosophical treatises, providing real guidance on the full end-to-end spectrum of architectural activities

• The authors of these frameworks have done a good job of comparing how their frameworks complement or can integrate with the other frameworks

• There is a considerable amount of guidance regarding how these architecture frameworks complement and integrate with non-architecture frameworks, such as ITIL, PMBOK, etc.

• Research has shown that companies that have successfully implemented a modern, full-featured architecture practice:

• have higher project success rates while delivering faster• significantly reduce standard operational costs• have an improved ability for IT to deliver strategic competitive advantage for

the rest of the enterprise• enjoy better perceived alignment to the Business, by the Business

themselves

Architecture complements other Disciplines

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Business Area “Z”Business Area “Y”

See the Business Opportunity

Plan how to get there

Implement the Plan

Transformation opportunities

Solutions to current

problems

Long-term planning

Short-term

planning

Requirements & Design

Detailed technical design

Project Management

Hardware/Software Engineering

Business Analysis

Business Area “X”

Business Analysis

Solution Development & Delivery

Manage Resources

& Risk

Business Management

• Architecture integrates its best practices with the best practices of the other disciplines to provide a holistic and cross-enterprise level of coordination. A fundamental role of the Architect is to bring people together and span silos.

Architecture

Architecture

Project Management

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How does Architecture benefit the organization?

Business Segment

Business Segment

Business Segment

Operations

• Current State Landscape

Standards • & Ref Arch

Capacity • Planning

• Operational Issues

Technical • Roadmaps

Security

Security • Compliance

Governance • Support

• Security Policy and Standards

Executive Business • Objectives IT Business • Objectives

IT Mgmt

• Capacity Planning

• Risk Assessment

• Strategic Vision, Planning & Roadmaps

• Strategic & Technical Forecasting

• Demand Prioritization

• Gap & Dependency Identification

• Business Strategy & Priorities

• Impact Analysis

• Needs & Solutions Facilitation

• Opportunity Identification

• Business Roadmaps

• Business Models

PMO

Risk Assessment •

Program Architectural Oversight •

Program Roadmaps •

Solution Discipline & SDLC •

Identification • of Required Project Technical Skills/Roles

Project • Prioritization

Project • Dependencies

• Project Visibility

• Pending Project Demand

• Pending Resource Demand

Change Mgmt

Pending • Landscape Changes • Risk

Assessment

• Capacity Planning

• TechnicalDependencies

Application Services

• Application Portfolio Mgmt

• Standards & Ref Arch

• ApplicationRoadmaps

Current State • Landscape

Operational • Issues

Architecture

Standards • & Ref Arch

Current State Landscape •

• Capability Modeling

Business Segment

Business Segment

• Capability Modeling

To be able to coordinate all the activities from original idea to resulting solutions, Architects interact with people across the entire company: the Architecture team is virtually the only group that works horizontally across the organizational silos.

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Architecture is key to achieve transformative capabilities in Planning and Delivery (not so much for daily Operations):

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Best Practices, Industry Trends

-Corporate Priorities,

-Needs,

-Strategies

-Vision

-Strategic Alignment,

-Strategic Planning,

-Technology Management,

-Cross-silo coordination

-Reduced Operating Costs,

-Agility to Respond to Business Change,

-Transformation from Cost Center to

Competitive Advantage

Architecture Practice

At a high level:

Employs

Takes as input

Facilitates

Business-aligned

capabilities

Impacts how

IT functions

Operations is ITIL’s strength

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By applying both Architecture and ITIL best practices with Project Management for projects, the full conceptual life-cycle, from idea to solution to working system, is covered.

Maturity

Strategic

ITSMOperational

PlanningHorizon

Tactical

Architecture

Med High

PM

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Let’s take a closer look at how Architecture is structured and delivered...

Architecture Overview – Architecture Domains

Application Architecture

InformationArchitecture

Business Architecture

TechnicalArchitecture

• Business Architecture: Vision, Strategy, Objectives, Processes, Principles, Capabilities, Actors, Use Cases, Organization, etc.

• Application Architecture: Systems, Applications, Services, Protocols, Messages, Interfaces, Transactions, etc.

• Information Architecture: Information Entities, Ontologies, Taxonomies, Data Relationships, Schemas, etc.

• Technical Architecture: Network, Servers, Storage, Communications, Platforms, etc.

• The scope of concerns that Architecture deals with is so broad that we divide it into different categories, typically called domains. A very common definition of architectural domains is:

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Note: this visualization was adapted from the Software AG/IDS Scheer ARIS manual…so… thanks, ARIS!

Architecture Overview – Architecture Tiers

Enterprise Architecture

Organizational Scope

Scope of Problem Domain

Tech

nolo

gy H

ori

zon

• The industry recognizes 3 general tiers, or levels, of architecture. These can be visualized using a grid of Problem Domain scope, Technology Horizon (depth of technology, and Organizational scope)

• Enterprise Architecture (EA) looks at the goals, opportunities and challenges facing the company, and seeks to propose solutions that can holistically improve the enterprise.

• EA takes a strategic, inclusive and long-term view, thinking in terms of the enterprise Capabilities, Business Processes and Services rather than focusing on technological details.

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Segment Architecture




• Segment Architecture is much like EA but is applied to a specific sub-section (segment) of the enterprise.

• A segment can be a Portfolio, a Line-of-Business, a Capability, a technology or any other division that makes sense to the company.

• Segment Architecture, because the scope is more focused, takes a closer look at the technology and information landscape than at the enterprise level.

Tech

nolo

gy H

ori

zon

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Portfolio Architecture




• Some companies choose the term Portfolio Architecture instead of Segment Architecture.

• Portfolio Architecture can address technological details to a greater degree than EA, but does not have the visibility across the enterprise that EA does.

• In some companies, Portfolio Architecture is just folded into EA, so each enterprise architect is assigned a portfolio to manage.Te

ch

nolo

gy H

ori

zon

Portfolio Architecture = Segment Architecture

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SolutionArchitecture





• Solution Architecture is focused on a specific solution and is concerned with compliance to standards, roadmaps and greater strategic objectives, in addition to finding a solid solution.

• Solution Architecture addresses technological details to the level required to ensure the resulting solution is compliant in all relevant ways (the rest are part of Detailed Design).

• Unlike EA and Portfolio Architecture, which are continuous activities, the activity of Solution Architecture is typically tied to a project lifecycle or delivery of some similar work product.

Tech

nolo

gy H

ori

zon

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Enterprise, Portfolio & Solution Architects






• Architects at each of these three tiers (i.e., Enterprise, Portfolio, and Solution) address all four architectural domains (i.e., Business, Application, Information, and Technical) – but they do so based on their different scopes of mandate.

ProjectBusinessArchitect

ProjectInformationArchitect

ProjectApplicationArchitect

ProjectTechnicalArchitect

• Project Architects operate in a niche and can be brought into a project under the oversight of the Solution Architect in order to provide specialist expertise or to lighten the workload of the SA.

• Often, a lead programmer or technical specialist is actually what’s required, not a specialist architect.

Tech

nolo

gy H

ori

zon

ProjectIntegrationArchitect

ProjectDatabaseArchitect

Etc.

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Tiers and Domains does NOT mean Silos!






Tech

nolo

gy H

ori

zon

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• These divisions are simply tools to understand where and how to apply architectural discipline, and to break down the challenge into parts that are easier to grasp.

• The actual process of Architecture is continuous and holistic – it is a complete continuous-improvement lifecycle.

Architecture Overview – Architecture Lifecycle

Plan

DoCheck

Act

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Deming Cycle

• The grand-father of the continuous-improvement concept is the Deming Cycle.

• The Deming Cycle is an iterative process (originating in the manufacturing sector) for quality management and continuous improvement.

• It consists of 4 steps:

• Plan: Establish objectives

• Do: Implement the plan

• Check: Study the results

• Act: Adjust to bring results in

line with objectives


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• Many companies base their Architecture approach on TOGAF, which applies a type of Deming Cycle where all 3 tiers of architecture are blended into a continuous cycle:

• The TOGAF lifecycle (ADM) is intended for Enterprise Architecture but can serve equally well as a lifecycle model for the Portfolio and Solution tiers (levels) of Architecture (though the Solution tier is likely to be a single iteration of the cycle).

• Activities in a higher level of Architecture may spawn individual threads of lifecycle at the lower level of Architecture.


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• Note that ITIL also consists of a type of Deming Cycle.

• This diagram highlights how well-integrated ITIL and Architecture practices should be.

Architect Roles & Responsibilities

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Architecture Overview – Roles & Responsibilities Summary

Enterprise Architect

• Facilitate Management to elaborate enterprise strategic goals and produce roadmaps to execute on them

• Assist Management to understand the risks/impacts of business and technical choices on IT and the enterprise

• Establish Architecture principles, standards and best-practices

• Assist IT Management to prioritize project demand in the context of enterprise priorities

• Provide leadership and vision to the rest of the Architecture team; act as a catalyst for team identity

• Identify cross-Portfolio interdependencies and risks and ensure inter-Portfolio coordination

Portfolio Architect

• Facilitate the creation of Portfolio strategy and roadmaps, as well as any Program roadmaps, in alignment with enterprise, IT, and Architecture strategic roadmaps

• Formalize the intellectual capital of the enterprise through Business and Technical Models that describe what the Business does, and how the technology supports that

• Identify interdependencies and risks associated with items on the Portfolio roadmap

• Assess strategic alignment and value of projects and solutions in the context of the Portfolio

• Alert EA of capability gaps in relation to identified project and operational needs as well as interdependencies.

• Apply capacity planning to advise of potential future resource shortages or conflicts in order to avoid them.

• Approve solution architectures for portfolio projects and identify potential new standards

Solution Architect

• Create solution architectures (conceptual, logical and physical), in alignment with enterprise and portfolio standards and goals.

• Provide guidance and governance to the project for the disciplined identification and delivery of solutions

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The Enterprise Architect:

Provides the engagement of Architecture with the rest of IT and the Business

Provides the expertise to align Business strategy and current issues with IT strategy and current issues and come up with a strategy to deliver solutions based on industry trends, technology trends and current best practices

Is a source of advice on methodologies and best practices in areas relevant to strategy, goal-setting, strategic planning, governance and the application of frameworks and structured methodologies

Works inclusively to bring affected/relevant stakeholders together

Provides risk/impact/predictive analytics

Has the seniority and maturity to advise executives and senior management

Provides leadership and mentoring to the rest of the architecture team

Is involved in the initial activities of the Architecture Lifecycle that generate the ideas and strategies which are ultimately deployed as solutions later on in the Architecture Lifecycle

Provide a wide and long-term perspective to problems, opportunities and solutions that enables a more mature context for understanding what is best for the enterprise

Understands intimately the role of Architecture within a modern organization

Exposes Portfolio Architects to influences/dependencies/issues/opportunities beyond their portfolio and ensures information and coordination between portfolios is maintained

Leads or participates in initiatives that are inherently enterprise-wide, such as Information Management, Business Process Improvement, SOA, etc.

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The Portfolio Architect:

• A Portfolio coves the entire IT scope of activities of Planning, Developing and Operating:

• OPERATIONS: the managed current-state landscape: the solutions (set of technology, applications, information and processes) to support a business area.

• PLANNING: the roadmaps for the strategically-aligned evolution of the portfolio as well as the tactical lifecycle/enhancement planning of the solutions in the portfolio.

• Development: in-flight projects to deliver new or improved solutions into the managed current-state landscape.

Strategic RoadmapManaged Landscape

Managed Lifecycle

Service CatalogStrategy Map IT Portfolio Tactical Roadmap

Project Delivery

Proj

ects

NewSolutions

StrategicAlignment

ITPM

Proj

ect

Prop

osal

s

ProgramManagementRanked Proposals

Service Mapping

The Portfolio Architect in Portfolio Operations• Operations addresses the performance of the

managed landscape.

• The Portfolio Architect:

• Ensures that processes are in place so that the application inventory is maintained and accurate.

• Constructs metrics to assess the performance (fit-for-purpose, age, supportability, etc.) and value (business fit, technical fit) of applications and technology in the managed landscape, and reviews the performance results to help with strategic and investment planning.

• Identifies the application-to-Service mapping of applications in the managed landscape.

• Identifies areas of potential under-investment and over-investment, based on their strategic value.

• Is accountable to ensure that the Business Architecture, the Application Architecture, the Information architecture and the Technical architecture for the portfolio are captured in the architecture repository.

• Ensures that the strength provided by Architecture methods in Planning is smoothly integrated with the strength provided by ITIL methods in Operations.

Managed Landscape

IT Portfolio

Capability Model

ServiceMapping

Service Catalog

Service toCapabilityMapping

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The Portfolio Architect in Portfolio Planning• Planning happens on at least 2 levels: a strategic,

Service-based level and on a tactical, application/technology-based level.

• Large Services may be divided into smaller Services, so there may be multiple strategic levels of planning


• Facilitates the Portfolio Manager to define the portfolio strategic objectives, and ensures they are in alignment with enterprise and Architecture strategic plans; creates the strategic alignment deliverables (Vision-Goals-Principles, Strategy Map).

• Facilitates the Portfolio Manager to construct strategic, Service-oriented roadmaps.

• Facilitates the Portfolio Manager to construct tactical, application-oriented roadmaps that have touch-points into the Service-oriented roadmaps.

• Identifies dependencies and synergies between roadmaps and mitigates or exploits these to optimize delivery effectiveness.

• Maps Services to “heat-mapped” Capabilities to assist enterprise-level value assessment

Strategic Roadmap

StrategicAlignment

Managed Landscape

Managed Lifecycle

Capability Model

Strategy Map

IT Portfolio

Tactical Roadmap

Service Catalog

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The Portfolio Architect in Development Projects


• Facilitates the Portfolio Manager to identify potential projects from the portfolio roadmaps.

• Assists the Portfolio Manager to assess the value and strategic alignment of projects.

• Provides any required architectural oversight for one or more Programs (typically, around roadmapping and dependency identification).

• Provides architect FTE estimates to assist the PM with resourcing requirements.

• Provides oversight and mentoring for solution architects working on projects within the portfolio.

• Reviews and approves/denies solutions proposed by the solution architects working on projects within the portfolio.

Strategic RoadmapManaged Landscape

IT Portfolio

Project Delivery

Proj

ects

NewSolutions

ITPM

Proj

ect

Prop

osal

s

ProgramManagementRanked Proposals

• Development originates as Demand from the Portfolio.

• Development is managed from within the Portfolio.

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The Solution Architect:

Provides an assessment of solution alternatives.

Provides analysis and specification of the target solution.

Provides identification, documentation and mitigation of architecturally significant risk.

Provides technical content for RFP/RFI documents.

Creates all required architectural deliverables.

Ensures the timely provisioning of the technical environment.

Manages interaction with external technical representatives.

Assists with engagement with other IT Governance bodies (eg, ensure any required Security assessments happen).

Assists with Test Planning, Detail Design (if needed, where appropriate), QA, Transition to Operations.

Stewards the technical aspects of the solution delivery through to “go live” and the warranty period.

Is responsible for the quality of the solution, the compatibility of the solution to the organizational and technical environments, and for the alignment of the solution to IT roadmaps and standards. 31

Architect Working Relationship: Enterprise-Portfolio

• Enterprise Architects are responsible for establishing the enterprise architectural vision and strategy, in alignment with the corporate business vision and strategy, and must ensure that Portfolio Architects share that vision and support the strategy.

• Portfolio Architects are responsible for establishing the portfolio architectural vision and strategy, in alignment with the enterprise vision. Portfolio Architects maintain a dialogue with Enterprise Architects to help ensure the enterprise vision and strategy is pragmatic and effective.

• Enterprise Architects specify the enterprise standards and best practices.

• Portfolio Architects enforce the enterprise standards and best practices. Additionally, Portfolio Architects may propose solutions from their portfolio as candidates for new enterprise standards to promote continual improvements in standards and practices.

• Enterprise Architects provide information about the larger context to the Portfolio Architects, as well as general oversight and support, while the Portfolio Architects provide visibility into the specific context of their portfolios to the Enterprise Architects.

Portfolio architects

standards

oversight & support

potential new standards& reference architectures

delivery visibility

Shared vision& strategy

Enterprise architects

big picture visibility

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Architect Working Relationship: Portfolio-Solution

• Portfolio Architects are responsible for establishing the portfolio architectural vision and strategy (high-level, long-term roadmaps), and must ensure that Solution Architects share that vision.

• Portfolio Architects enforce the enterprise standards and best practices, which the Solution Architects leverage to deliver solutions. Conversely, Solution Architects may contribute architectural solutions that may be proposed by the Portfolio Architects as enterprise standards.

• Portfolio Architects oversee the work quality and compliance of Solution Architects, as well as provide mentoring and support where needed.

• Portfolio Architects provide information about the larger context to the Solution Architects, while the Solution Architects provide visibility into the specific context of their projects to the Portfolio Architects.

Solution architects

standards

oversight & support

potential new standards& reference architectures

delivery visibility

Shared vision& strategy

Portfolio architects

big picture visibility

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Elaboration Construction TransitionInception

Architecture Engagement Over a Typical Project SDLC

Design & Build

TestAnalyze Chg Mgmt

Deploy Support & Warranty

Business Case

Project Charter

PortfolioArchitect

Solution Architect

Non-functRequirmts

RFx

SystemSelectn

DetailedNon-functRequirmts

DetailedSoln Arch

TestPlan

Iterations or Sprints

DeploymtPlan

Operational Support Model

Legend

Architectural inputs

Architectural deliverable

Conceptual& Logical Soln Arch

Strategic Roadmap

Tactical Roadmap

(Pre-Project)

TransitionPlan

ImplementationPlan

RetirementPlan

Black indicates the Architect should either

author at least or be Accountable for the

deliverable

Blue indicates the Architect contributes

content to the deliverable

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Project Phase

Elaboration Construction TransitionInception


Design & Build

TestAnalyze Chg Mgmt


Business Case

Project Charter

PortfolioArchitect

Solution Architect

Non-functRequirmts

RFx

SystemSelectn


DetailedSoln Arch

TestPlan


DeploymtPlan


Legend




Strategic Roadmap

Tactical Roadmap

(Pre-Project)

TransitionPlan

ImplementationPlan

RetirementPlan

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Note that Architecture is involved through the entire course of the project and beyond: Architects do not just pop out a solution design and then leave.The Portfolio Architect (PA) is involved before a Project is even approved (while it is still just an “opportunity”, and often handles the initial stages of the Project, until funds are provided to obtain a Solution Architect (SA). After that, the PA will continue to monitor the progress of the project through regular dialogue with the SA.The PA will take over again from the SA when the solution is delivered into their operational portfolio.


Design & Build

TestAnalyze

Elaboration Construction Transition

Chg Mgmt


Project Charter

PortfolioArchitect

Solution Architect

Non-functRequirmts

RFx

SystemSelectn


DetailedSoln Arch

TestPlan


DeploymtPlan


Legend



Strategic Roadmap

(DemandPlanning)

TransitionPlan

RetirementPlan

Conceptual & high-level Logical solution architecture is required

before starting an RFx, performing System Selection, or beginning

detailed architecture and design

Requires non-functional requirements,

Conceptual and high-level Logical architecture

to be completed

Requires non-functional

requirements, Conceptual and high-

level Logical architecture to be

completed

This is the Support

Sustainment “bible”

SA provides technology retirement, resource

reclamation and information disposition

plans

Depending on SDLC, may iterate as far as

development milestones or all the way to incremental

deploytments

Depending on SDLC, may iterate as far as

development milestones or all the way to incremental

deployments

Detailed Logical

architecture and physical architecture; may be done in iterations

for agile projects

SA reviews development

team test plans, contributes

non-functional test plans

SA provides backup,

technical deployment and rollback

plans

SA provides cut-over plan,

including data migration

Project Phase Inception

PA provides Architect FTE estimate for budgeting, and provides tasks &

work estimates for scheduling

Portfolio, Investment Theme and Program strategic roadmaps

Portfolio application roadmap(s) PA provides complexity

& tech assessment content, reads final

doc: this ensures early visibility into the approved project

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Business Case

Tactical Roadmap

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What to look for in a resume

(you will likely not find it all)

Enterprise Architect Resumes

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Lots of seniority and supervisory experience

Evidence of mature best practices-based experience and structured methodologies; not just Architecture frameworks, also others like ITIL, BPM, Six-Sigma, etc.

Deep experience in at least one of Business, Applications, Information/Data or Technology, combined with wide experience in as many of these as possible

Experience working with management and executives

Knowledge of organizational governance structures and approaches

Evidence of tying disparate things together holistically, for example solving many problems or a many-faceted problem in an elegant, integrated manner

Leadership and vision, big-picture thinking

Lots of experience from various large and complex development projects

Evidence of working well with multiple stake-holders, acting as the glue bringing people together, facilitating meetings and working groups

Strong strategic planning experience

Experience with models, meta-models, taxonomies, ontologies, grammars and EA tools like ARIS, MEGA, or TROUX

Working as an architect at more than 3 corporations

Portfolio Architect Resumes

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Think of a Portfolio Architect as an Enterprise Architect that works within a defined segment of the enterprise: the EA resume hints apply, but you have room to relax a bit on the seniority/maturity aspect

Experience creating application landscape, integration, system and data-flow models

Experience in the subject domain of the Portfolio in question – doesn’t always have to be an expert on the domain (depending on the situation) but definitely has to be a good architect.

Experience constructing roadmaps

Experience with Application Portfolio Management, Infrastructure Portfolio Management and other portfolio-oriented approaches

Solution Architect Resumes

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Strong project experience, evidence of leadership on projects

UML diagrams/models: Activity, Collaboration, Sequence, Interaction, Communication, Deployment, Package

Solution architecture formalisms, eg: View model, Viewpoint model, 4+1 (Kruchten view model)

Deep experience in at least one of Business, Applications, Information/Data or Technology, combined with wide experience in as many of these as possible

Development methodologies: Rational, Agile, SCRUM

Clear indications that the candidate no longer programs, configures servers or deploys hardware (or at least that this is only a small portion of their job)

Has clear experience in network design, application integration, SOA, database design, coding, high availability, scalability

Strong analytic and requirements-gathering capabilities

Strong document-writing capabilities

Background in the area relevant to the solution domain (where the area is inherently complex or specialized, such as ERP, ECM, integration platforms, GIS, etc.)

Evidence of big-picture thinking and the ability to identify interactions/dependencies/repercussions

Project Architect Resumes

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Think of a Project Architect as an Solution Architect that works within a defined specialty on the project: the SA resume hints apply, but you have room to relax a bit on the overall seniority/maturity aspect

However, you have to be more demanding regarding expertise in the specialty area being hired for than you would be for the SA

Keep in mind this is still Architecture, not implementation: we want a specialist Architect NOT a lead programmer, network technician or DBA

It is worth questioning the requisition for a Project Architect to confirm that they actually are clear that they need an Architect – often what they will really need is in fact a lead developer, technician, DBA, etc.

END

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