Plan to be an Excellent Enterprise Architect

The premise of this article is simple: I believe that there are five steps to building excellence as an Enterprise Architect. If you focus on those steps and build the first skills you need to accelerate your career in the most efficient way possible. Follow this precise order, and you’ll study this variety of distinct knowledge areas common to architects who possess traits of excellence. The architect who is centered in his or her learning endeavors may leap ahead of colleagues by learning only the most important information in a focused manner. Along the way, you will need to pause at decision points where you can decide whether a career as an architect is right for you.

This is a system for training the best EAs. It is not based on any curriculum you’ll find at any university. This system was born out of personal observations and experience in working with well over four hundred architects over a career span of nearly twenty-five years. I traveled many paths in information technology to gain this insight, and along the way, I had experiences with some of the most intriguing projects and people. From what I’ve observed, it seems that the architects who are able to get the attention of the business and provide the most value are those who seem to possess these similar characteristics and traits.

This book is a culmination of the mentoring, coaching, training, and consulting work I have done as an EA. Over the various projects I have had the joy of working on, people have raised many questions regarding the roles, teams, skills, and paths they should take to become an EA. Through training classes, assessment programs, as well as many articles and blog posts aimed to arm the architect with knowledge and effective decision-making tools, I decided I could sum this up into a career path and a description of the most common skills and abilities you need to possess to become a great EA.  Follow me in this series of articles and I will divulge more about the steps you too may take to become excellent!

Tags: #assessment programs, #information technology, #enterprise architect