Peter Eeles, my co-author of The Process of Software Architecting, has a great presentation called Top 10 Success Secrets for Software Architects which summarises nicely the attributes a successful architect needs to have and also covers the key points from our book. Briefly these are:
| Successful Architects… | For example they… | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Understand end-to-end development. | Follow a repeatable process. |
| 2 | Understand their role. | Understand what an architecture is. Understand what an architect does. Understand the benefits of architecting. |
| 3 | Manage risk and manage change. | Derive their architectures iteratively. |
| 4 | Communicate with stakeholders. | Document their architectures. |
| 5 | Reuse assets. | Embrace different types of assets. |
| 6 | Right-size their involvement. | Select relevant viewpoints. |
| 7 | Influence the requirements. | Ensure tradeoffs are negotiated. |
| 8 | Derive solutions from business needs. | Produce business-driven architectures. |
| 9 | Refine solutions based on technology. | Realize architectures in available technology. |
| 10 | Appreciate the broader context. | Align their work with the “bigger picture”. |
Peter presented this, with more detail around the attributes and examples, on a public call today. For a replay of the presentation go here. The slides are on slideshare here.
Software Architecture Zen 
Align their work with the “bigger picture”.—-This is one thing that architects, and those in different fields, must keep in mind when they’re doing their work. Remember that thinking outside the box is something that they don’t teach you in school. It is something that we must learn on our own. If you try looking at the bigger picture, you have a clearer view of what your goal is and what you can do, which can then help you deliver beyond extraordinary work.
Thank you for your comment Malik. Yes, I agree that “thinking out the box does not seem to be something taught in schools. I think as architects the temptation is to often get seduced by the technology. Focusing on the bigger picture is one way of avoiding that.
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