The Practicing Architects Community

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The Practicing Architects Community
Inaugural Meeting 25/9/2008
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• Welcome and Introductions

Thank You and Welcome! The idea for a free
architect community...
Introducing the team
Richard Crawford (MCA Infrastructure)
Per Ostman (MCA Solutions)
Darryl DCosta (Infrastructure Architect)
Yuri Misnik (Solutions Architect)
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• Introducing Dean Gardiner

MCA Infrastructure 25 Years of Technology
Experience
Relays, thyristors and programmable controllers
- 1985
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• The Evolution of Titles

• Electronics Technician
• Network Administrator
• LAN Administrator
• Network Manager
• Systems Engineer
• Project Manager
• Program Manager

• Consultant
• Senior Consultant
• Infrastructure Consultant
• Operations Consultant
• Pre Sales Consultant
• Systems Mgmt Consultant
• Enterprise Strategy Consultant

A new title started to emerge around the Y2K time
frame

• Infrastructure Architect
• Solutions Architect
• Pre Sales Architect
• Active Directory Architect

• Identity Architect
• Business Architect
• Enterprise Architect
• Architect

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• Who is an IT Architect?

Architects design structures to meet human needs.

World Wide Institute of Software Architects
Architects create architectures, and their
responsibilities encompass all that is involved
in doing so.

Dana Bredemeyer
The role of the IT architect is to solve a
problem by defining a system that can be
implemented using technology. Good architects
define systems by applying abstract knowledge and
proven methods to a set of technologies with the
goal of creating an extendible and maintainable
solution.
Joseph Hofstader in MS Architecture Journal
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• What is IT Architecture?

Software architecture is the set of decisions the
software architect makes.

Dana Bredemeyer
The fundamental organisation of a system embodied
in its components, their relationship to each
other, and to the environment, and the principles
guiding its design and evolution.

ANSI/IEEE Std 1471-2000
1. A formal description of a system, or a
detailed plan of the system at component level to
guide its implementation. 2. The structure of
components, their interrelationships, and the
principles and guidelines governing their design
and evolution over time.

TOGAF
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• Three Architect Personas

Theoretical Architects The primary role of a
theoretical architect is to establish policies,
standards and architecture frameworks.

• Enterprise Architects
• Business Architects
• Data Architects
• Security Architects (maybe)

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• Three Architect Personas

Solution Architects The primary role of a
solution architect is to create an end to end
technology solution to a business problem.

• Development Architects
• Infrastructure Architects
• Software Architects (maybe)

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• Three Architect Personas

Technology Architects The primary role of a
technology architect is to determine the best use
of specific technologies to support the defined
end to end solution.

• Identity Architects
• Database Architects
• SQL Architects (maybe)

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• A Random Title Sampling from SEEK

• Netweaver Architect
• SharePoint Solutions Architect
• Java Architect
• Application Security Architect
• Engagement Architect
• Pre sales Architect
• Enterprise Infrastructure Architect
• SOA Architect
• Enterprise Architect - Exchange

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• Architect Focus

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• The MCA Architect Competencies

Seven competencies, builds on five Bredemeyer
Competencies (2002).

• Leadership
• Communication
• Organisational Dynamics
• Strategy
• Process and Tactics
• Technology Breadth
• Technology Depth

Matches Bredemeyer competencyAligns with
Bredemeyer consulting CompetencyAligns with
Bredemeyer technology Competency
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• The MCA Architect Competencies

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• Leadership

Develop partnerships with stakeholders both
inside and outside the organization on projects,
mentor others, develop and form strong teams, and
achieve successful results.

• Mentoring
• Industry recognition
• Intellectual property
• Community and associations
• Team building and leading
• Case studies
• Able to influence decision makers

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• Communication

Maintain well-written and accurate project
documentation, present information about a
technical subject in a concise and measured
manner. Able to influence others, manage conflict
effectively, and customize communication to the
needs of the target audience.

• Presentation skills
• Conflict management
• Documentation
• Published articles or books
• Conferences or training

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• Organisation Dynamics

Recognize the key stakeholders on a project and
work with those stakeholders to drive the project
to a successful conclusion. Recognize the
political landscape in an organization that can
influence a project, and influence organizational
politics for the success of the projects.

• An understanding of business structures
• Experience in different industries, sizes,
  cycles
• Examples of success in political situations
• Achieving results in spite of conflict
• Networking and partnering

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• Strategy

Apply knowledge of technology to further
organisational goals within vertical industries.
Understand and apply the principles of project
management. Understanding of the economic
dimension of projects and how costs influence the
available choices for technology.

• Industry knowledge, regulations
• Industry associations
• Use of frameworks (TOGAF, Zachman, MSF)
• Demonstrate business benefits of solution
• Certification helps (PMI, ITIL, TOGAF etc)

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• Process and Tactics

Gather and refine project requirements from both
a technical and a business perspective. Design,
create, maintain, and verify solution models.
Create effective project artefacts. Refine
project goals and the tactics that are necessary
to achieve those goals as the project develops.

• Full project lifecycle experience is critical
• Project management experience is critical
• Business case development, requirements
• Deployment and operations

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• Technology Breadth

Understand architectural best practices and apply
them across a breadth of technologies to solve an
organizational problem. Articulate views on the
future development of technology, and they
understand the interaction between infrastructure
and solution architecture.

• You cant know everything, but you must know
  more than a single tool / vendor / product.
  Eg .Net and Java, Exchange and Notes
• This is the reason for the 10 years experience!

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• Technology Depth

Have a detailed knowledge of the concepts,
application, and issues of at least two depth
competencies. Demonstrate the ability to quickly
assimilate information about new technologies..

• Depth messaging, not Exchange!

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• MCA Program Overview

Practicing IT architects who have 10 or more
years of experience and who currently create
software architecture or have done so in the past
five years. These architects typically work on
500,000 to 5,000,000 projects that have a
project life cycle of nine months to three years.
The successful applicant has extensive IT
experience and IT architecture experience in
managing large, business-critical projects that
have multiple integration points. The successful
applicant also possesses deep architectural
knowledge of frameworks and methodologies.
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• MCA Certification Process Overview

• You sit before a board of four MCAs
• Three from your track, one from the other
• 2 from Microsoft, 2 from elsewhere
• Deliver a 30 minute presentation
• Each board member grills you for 10 minutes
  for a critique on your presentation
• 5 minute break
• Each board member grills you for another 10
  minutes to determine competencies
• 5 Minute closing statement

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• Open Discussion

Any questions?