Transform Yourself

Sharm Manwani and Oliver Bossert, 2024

Develop problem solving, character and communication skills to align with critical stakeholders and solve their problems in a collaborative way. 

Enterprise Architecture is part science and part art. It requires structured problem solving and creativity at the same time. And like art or science, Enterprise Architecture is highly dependent on the skills of the individuals performing it. You will never be able to improve Enterprise Architecture by adding more arms and legs – it requires a constant development and improvement of the most important asset: the architect’s brain, intellect, character and skills.  While you do not need to be at the level of a Picasso or an Einstein, we do believe that you need a huge focus on personal and professional growth to succeed in this complex and evolving discipline.

The bar regarding the skills required is constantly rising. On the one hand we see an increase in investments for example for core system replacements and emerging technology such as AI. On the other hand in many industries the impact of technology on the revenue of the industry is increasing year on year. Together this means that Enterprise Architecture becomes more relevant to senior company leaders. Yet many business executives have gaps in their technology knowledge and if this is the focus presented by EA leaders, the messages can fall on deaf ears. EAs sometimes complain that executives are more political than evidence-based in their decisions. Unfortunately, this misses the point. EA leads need to understand that there are many stakeholders and they value different elements – navigating through this requires a ‘political’ skill.

Additionally the knowledge base of an EA is increasing all the time. To some extent the Enterprise Architect has to be a jack of all trades spanning from economic strategies to cloud architecture in order to translate between the business and the technology realms. They cannot be an expert in each area but they need to know what good looks like and how to acquire or develop these skills for themselves and the team as a whole.

We put a lot of emphasis in our survey as well as the upcoming book project on how you can continuously transform yourself to be well prepared for the upcoming challenges. 

Personal capabilities

In the first row of our Enterprise Architecture Capability map (have a look here to learn more about the concept) we have four boxes laid out:

The Personal Development capability area is all about getting an overview of the individual skill set an Enterprise Architect should have in your specific situation, how well you perform given these expectations and how to design a path towards improvement. 

We use the capability map as a tool to diagnose your skill gaps. This extends into how the framework can be used for personal development as well as selecting candidates for an EA position. Hence it can help you hire the right person or used to assess your skills and identify areas to improve your capabilities. We also look at different career paths and how enterprise architects should plan their personal development journey within their chosen career path. 

We use the capability-based diagnostic in our survey. With the survey you can get started before the book release and understand how you are positioned compared to your peers. 

Enterprise Architects require world class capability to work on the complex problems they are confronted with. In this section we go step by step through the process of defining a problem and “slicing it into manageable chunks ”, allowing us to structure the solution space and define a set of options for the final decision. And that leads us effectively into the problem solution process itself. 

Character, mindset and personal productivity is a set of foundational tools that is often overlooked. We define the characteristics and the mindset that one would expect from an architect and explore how to achieve the desired outcome. For example, the Enterprise Architect must be seen as someone who is objective, unbiased working with the facts to gather evidence. A key aspect of mindset and productivity is the focus on execution not just the delivery of a blueprint. Many challenges occur in delivery and so resilience must be shown in adverse circumstances.

Another important aspect of the character is the willingness to dissent with people higher up in the hierarchy. Architecture sometimes requires taking a strong stand for the future of the company and helping others not to jeopardize this future for short-term benefits. 

Character and solving problems alone are not enough. The solution will only have an impact when others engage with it  and act accordingly. Therefore the final section is all around Communication and stakeholder management. This chapter explores the foundational elements of top-down communication, provides a framework for analyzing the stakeholder landscape and offers a wide set of stakeholder influencing tools. ‘

In other parts, we address the professional and managerial skills needed to succeed in EA. Yet we strongly believe that without the foundational personal skills, an Enterprise Architect will have limited career impact and progression. That is acceptable if that is the limit of the ambition but anyone aspiring to be an EA leader and beyond needs to fully embrace their personal skills development.

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