- 1.The IT Architect Profession Paul Turner Director, IASA
Australia
2. Agenda
- The Architecture Profession
3. The Architecture Profession
- "Architects have an inborn talent which cannot be transferred."
- event attendee, ITARC Atlanta, 2007
- "You cannot train architects, they need 20 years experience." -
chapter member, IASA Austin
- "Architecture is an over used term and therefore doesn't mean
anything anyway" - chapter member
4. The Architecture Profession
- "Oh we don't need training, we are Enterprise Architects" -
member survey
- "Help I need to hire architects but cannot define the role" -
HR Manager
- "Why should I hire architects? No one has ever made the case to
me." CEO
- "Architects are just visio jockeys right? We need coders not
talkers." - development manager
5. The Architecture Profession
- "We are going to architect the business. No technology just a
business architecture" - enterprise architect member
- "Why would we need more information on architecture? (Zachman,
IBM, OMG, IEEE, SEI, or fill in the blank) has already figured it
all out."
6. What is Architecture
- If Building Architecture is:
- n.The art and science of designing and erecting buildings.
- Then What is IT Architecture:
- n.The art and science of designing and deploying Information
Technology.
- But who decides the art and the science?
7. What is IT Architecture
- Q: Who decides what medicine is?
- A: The practicing body of professionals including researchers,
educators and practitioners.
- IASA Believes IT Architecture is:
- The knowledge maintained, taught and executed by the practicing
body of IT architects.
- Architects are the definition of IT Architecture!
8. Agenda
- The Architecture Profession
9. What is IASA?
- The IASA is a non-profit professional association
- The IASA is run by architects
-
- We focus on the professional first and the profession
second
- The IASA is for all IT architects
-
- Infrastructure, Enterprise, Software, Application and Beginning
Architects
- The IASA is centrally governed and locally run
-
- We take extreme care to "Think Globally, Act Locally"
- The IASA is technology and vendor agnostic
10. Why We Started
- We couldnt find resources targeted at our needs
- We couldnt find our peers
- Our experience wasnt portable
- Only subjective criteria for architect
- Was VERY difficult to grow our careers
11. Who we Serve - Our Members
- Architects thrive in Corporate, Product and Service
companies
- Member Specialization Backgrounds
Corporations Vendors Service Integrators Thought Leaders Govt
Edu Architects Architects Architects Architects Architects 12. How
Do We Become Architects 13. The Career Path Aspiring Architects
need full training Associate Architects need formal training to
become professional architects Professional Architects need spot
training to fill in gaps 14. Agenda
- The Architecture Profession
15. What is the value of IT Architecture
- Aligning IT and other Business Units?
- Shorten project timelines?
- Insurance against project failure?
- Creation of best technical solution?
- Yes but these are limited
- IT Architecture is technology strategy
-
- Just enough software to enable a competitive advantage
- Architects increase shareholder value directly
-
- We make you new money or save you old money
16. What do IT Architects Do
- Taxonomy includes 256 topics contained in
-
- 5 categories of foundation skills
- Skills must be practical and necessary to successful
architects
- Enterprise Architecture is not a skill but a role
17. Foundation Skills Business Technology Strategy
- Skills necessary to identify, design, plan and support a
technology environment that forms the basis of competitive
advantage
- Alignment and Investment Strategy,Valuation, ROI, TCO,
Viability, Opportunity, Industry Concerns,Business
Fundamentals
18. Foundation Skills Design
- The ability to solve problems in a rigorous fashion
- Patterns and Best Practices, Building blocks, Artifacts, Tools,
Methodologies and Techniques, Evaluation practices
19. Foundation Skills Quality Attributes
- Cross-cutting elements of technology solutions
- Management and Monitoring, Types (reliability, scalability,
security, etc.), Implementation Considerations
20. Foundation Skills IT Environment
- Functional and procedural aspects of a information technology
group
- How we run things (maintenance and support) and how we create
new things (forward engineering)
- Organizing, Engineering, Operations, Governance, Project
Management Capabilities (non-technical), Cost Estimation and
Tracking
21. Foundation Skills Human Dynamics
- Skills associated with managing and influencing human elements
associated with a complex effort or environment
- Communications, Situational Awareness, Leadership
22. Specialization
- Must be based on the Foundation Skills
- Must be deep enough and broad enough to be practiced from
apprentice to master
- Combination forms total architecture direction
23. Agenda
- The Architecture Profession
24. What you should be doing
- Think Big, Start Small, Move Fast
- Start with project success and move up
- Focus primarily on architect skills not architecture
frameworks
25. Conclusion
- Get involved now not later
- Start studying the skill set
-
- If youve mastered one move on to the next
- Find a successful architect to work with
- Start publishing/contributing now
26. IASA Australia
- Country leaders: Daniel Piva, Pervez Kazmi, Paul Turner, Nigel
Watson
- Chapters to be setup in Melbourne and Sydney initially
- 1 stSteps: Chapters, community, and education