I’ve been working on this vision of The Agile Architect for quite a while now. It takes time to think of ideas, write posts, money for hosting, etc… It takes a bit of courage to write about my beliefs and philosophy and put it out there for anyone and everyone to read.
A part of me keeps asking, why am I doing this when I have a great job already? I do have a great job. I get paid well. I work with great people. I am continually challenged. I am successful by all counts.
But still, I feel this longing in my heart to share what I’ve learnt and what I believe are ideas and ways of working that accelerate the value we as technologists deliver to our business customers and at the same time improving our lives and how we feel about our work.
I am passionate about this because I have worked for many years on IT. I have worked on projects that were incredibly successful and many that were failures. I have worked with people who were incredibly happy with the outcome of their hard work. I have also worked with people who were miserable with the sense that no matter how many 7 day weeks they worked, their business customer would never be satisfied.
I sincerely believe the key is understanding. When technologists can understand where their business customer wants to go and why, they will work tirelessly to create innovative solutions that help the business achieve it’s goals. Conversely, when the business understand what they have and need in terms of capability and what it takes to build it and run it, they will be demanding, yet understanding and compassionate.
Establishing this common understanding is the primary value an Architect can deliver. This common understanding comes when we apply Agile Principles and Disciplines to our work as Architects.
When we apply Agile principles that are encapsulated in the Agile Manifesto to our work, we release a powerful force of common understanding. It results is a quality and productivity that results in accelerating value to the business customer. In turn, when we deliver value to our business customers we establish a feedback loop that makes us feel good about our work and encourages us to achieve greater things.
For the architect, I’ve drafted the Agile Architect’s Manifesto to guide the way Enterprise Architects and Solution Architects work in order to release this power to accelerate value to the business customer and improve the lives of our technology teams. The manifesto and ways of working as an Agile Architect
This Agile Architects Manifesto is the foundation of my writing and guides how I work and what I teach. It is my vision that it will release the power of common understanding in your enterprise; help you accelerate business value; and improve the lives of your technologists.
Good luck releasing the power in your enterprise.
Please give me feedback if you agree or disagree.
