[This is also my posting to answer the question: "What do you do?"]
My original LinkedIn post on this topic.
As a consultant - that focuses specifically on providing services in the areas of Architecture and Software Engineering Consulting & Leadership - I recently spent some time distilling my thoughts on where & how I add value. It was a clarifying exercise, and a worthwhile meditation for this day.
A bit of elaboration on those areas:
IT Strategy & Roadmaps
- This can involve both long-term strategic planning - as well as interim tactical planning.
- Ideation of transition plans for moving from the AS-IS, to the TO-BE - and any interim staging / transition plateaus / scaffolding that may need to be introduced.
- This is not just about the technology aspects of strategy and roadmaps - but is closely integrated with the business plan - to include competitor analysis, alliances, partnerships, merger/acquisition opportunities, as well as creating competitive advantage.
- Another vital component of this type of work is understanding the Change Management dynamics - and planning the collaboration and coordination appropriately.
IT Governance
- Governance, regardless of the size of the organization, is essential to avoid chaos, waste, and inefficiencies. The amount of ceremony and formalism are the only real essential differences.
- Do you know what IT assets you have - and what it costs to maintain/keep them (hardware, software, licenses, etc.)?
- Are you legally compliant with respect to the software licenses that you are using?
- Do you have a documented understanding of what your Business Capabilities and Business Functions are?
- What are your Technical Capabilities - and how do those capabilities map to your current | planned technology stack - and your enterprise roadmap?
- How are those capabilities and functions delivered?
- Are there any gaps or inefficiencies - or duplication - in how those capabilities and functions are delivered?
- Are there any material risks/concerns with respect to the way that those capabilities and functions are delivered (security, performance, reliability, scalability - to name just a few aspects that fall under the purview of IT Governance)?
- What is the projected end-of-life of a given application (or technology) - and how will you plan for the transition?
- What are the vulnerabilities that may exist for a given application, or technology?
Technology Thought Leadership
- A famous quote often attributed to hockey legend Wayne Gretzky: "Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been". There is a useful corollary in that phrase - for IT leadership.
- While you may have your IT Strategy and Roadmap well established - and you may have your IT Governance processes fully implemented - the landscape of technology is constantly changing underneath your best intentions.
- Technology Thought Leadership is more art than science. It requires experience - but it also requires good instincts - and an intuitive level of being able to discern what is a technology fad - from what will be a truly sustainable technology trend. What is a differentiator vs. what may merely be fancier drapes.
- To be able to provide this kind of thought leadership requires "Think Time" - and the ability to leverage a global network of professional connections (today, my carefully curated network includes over 5,400+ [as of 2023] world-class executives, leaders, managers, engineers, inventors, creators, thinkers) to help me monitor the pulse and the heartbeat of what trends may be emerging, which are thriving - and which may be beginning their decline.
- Sustaining this kind of thought leadership requires a substantial investment of time in reading, exploring, experimenting - and conversations with other thought leaders across multiple business sectors - and fields of expertise.
Architecture Design
- An essential component of holding any position of Architecture and Engineering Leadership - is the ability to roll-up your sleeves and craft a world-class architecture design - leveraging current/emerging patterns, and identifying the best-in-class technology platforms, services, libraries, tools, etc.
- The key difference between the level for a practitioner of any craft (novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert) - is in their ability to properly consider the scope & scale of trade-offs and balance-of-forces - and being able to integrate those concerns within a conceptual weaving that approaches the level of a maestro composer writing a symphony.
Design Reviews
- Equally important to the ability to craft an architecture design - is the ability to guide others (Enterprise Architects, Business Architects, Security Architects, Infrastructure Architects, Integration Architects, Solution Architects, DevOps, Tech Leads, Principal Engineers, etc.) in the design review process.
- This may involve reviewing Enterprise Architecture Roadmaps, Solution Architecture Designs, Transition Plans, Data Architecture - or Data Models, or diving into the API or algorithm-level Detail Design Documents.
- Sometimes, it requires doing deep dives in Code Analysis & Code Reviews.
Teaching, Coaching & Mentoring
- Another essential aspect of any position of Architecture and Engineering Leadership - is the ability to teach, coach, develop, and mentor others.
- People are the most important component of any business.
- This is where the true value of leadership emerges - for it is in acting as a "force-multiplier" - assisting other members of the organization to experience personal and professional growth in their career development - that you truly create lasting and sustainable value.
- Ignoring the need to continually invest in the development of personnel - is the surest way to cripple the effectiveness of any organization.
Proof-of-Concepts
- You can read all of the Gartner and Forrester Reports; you can read articles in CIO magazine, the Wall Street Journal, InfoQ, and the unending cornucopia of opinions that are published in blogs and on various platforms like Medium.com, or LinkedIn.com, etc.
- But, there are often cases - that unless you have personally kicked-the-tires and taken it for a test drive - you can put at risk the very survival of a business - if you haven't invested the effort to personally perform some level of proof-of-concept examination of a potential solution, or new technology.
Research & Evaluations
- Beyond the periodic need to perform Proof-of-Concepts for evaluation of potential solution candidates - it is important to also maintain awareness of new and interesting developments in various areas of technology. What is on the horizon? What is just beyond the horizon?
- Additionally, when the business wishes to contractually engage third-party service providers - an essential aspect of risk mitigation is the Architecture & Engineering research and evaluation of those potential vendors - which may include collaboration during the prelude to a Request for Information (RFI), Request for Quote (RFQ), or a comprehensive Request for Proposal (RFP) process.
- Research & Evaluations also serve several other purposes:
- Researching and evaluating new emerging technology (in particular, many Open Source solutions) - provides you with context and a frame of reference - when/if you need to evaluate commercially available solutions.
- Tremendous breakthroughs occur frequently - in terms of techniques, efficiency, performance, capabilities, features, etc. - and only by seeking out the emerging edge of those technology breakthroughs - can you be well-enough informed to provide input for the Technology Thought Leadership, Strategy, and Roadmap discussions. This requires spending some time allocated to reading recently published research papers, and PhD thesis papers.
- When technology breakthroughs can simplify process flows, reduce (or eliminate) manual procedures, reduce cycle times, improve response times, enable the development/delivery of new services and business capabilities, etc. - those all contribute to creating competitive advantage for the business. That's why Research & Evaluations are a vital part of any Architecture & Engineering Leadership role.
The 70+ recommendations on my LinkedIn profile may also provide insights into additional dimensions of value that others have perceived when my services were engaged...
This blog post touches on my approach to continuous learning.
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