What Type of Architect You Are

There is an interesting article by Praba Siva on the roadmap of how to become an enterprise architect. Alan Inglis followed up Siva’s post with further enhancements to the roadmap, where he points out that having business acumen would help in your aspirations.

The reason I’m writing this post is because in the last 12 –24 months I have come across where most of the people still don’t understand the vital difference between Enterprise, Solution and Technical Architect. Therefore I thought let me reflect upon this topic, because lot of SME/B’s don’t understand the key differences. There is a very good article by Amit Unde in The Architecture Journal 15 which reflects upon this topic. I'm reproducing some of the contents from that article here

So for me there are three different types of architect at a broader level:

Enterprise Architect(Chief Architect):
The enterprise architect is mainly responsible for implementing the CIO’s
vision and strategy for IT or a blueprint or a roadmap for the organization. It includes defining strategic programs (usually 2-5 years, multimillion dollars for large organizations), selecting the appropriate technology platforms, and providing guidance for implementations. The enterprise architect aids the CIO in making sure that the IT investments are aligned to the business strategy, and provide competitive edge for the organization. The person is also responsible
for defining the standards and guidelines, and designing a governance framework to align implementation to the defined standards and guidelines.

This role is not found in SME/B’s, it’s only relevant in bigger organizations like Telstra & ANZ. Most of the Tier 1 Consulting firms like (BCG, KPMG, Deloitte, Capegemini) sell their consulting services in this space. I agree with Alan’s view that having a business acumen will help a lot.

Solution Architect:
The solution architect is responsible for implementing a strategic IT program. This includes defining the architectural solution for the program (usually spanning multiple technologies), selecting technology platforms in adherence to corporate strategy, handling intergroup communication, and making decisions on technical issues in implementation. The solution
architect usually needs to mediate between business and technology teams and various other groups. The solution architect is the “go-to” man for any technology conflicts, implementation issues, or decisions.

This role is mostly confused with the role of technical architect. Most of the organizations use this role from technical architecture to and in some use their services in enterprise architecture. Most of the Tier 2 Consulting firms like (SMS, Oakton, Renewtek) sell their consulting services in this space.


Technical Architect:
The technical architect is usually a technology specialist in a particular technology. This person has expert knowledge of the underlying technology function, its integral components, and understands the strengths and limitations of the technology. This person is responsible for determining the applicability of the technology, for defining the best possible architecture using that particular technology, and also for guiding the team in implementing the solution. Generally, the technology architect is expected to know the various vendor tools in the technology area, the latest trends in the market, and various architectural alternatives for implementing the solution.

This is the most common role found in all the organizations and is at the bottom of pyramid of architecture.

I presume this diagram and the description above will clarify these differences and hopefully organisations will take a holistic view of what they do and what they expect from their architects. I will be interested to know what others think about this and how they see this role.

Credit : This diagram and some content is used from Amit Unde's article in Journal 15 of The Architecture Journal