Microsoft .NET: Architecting Applications for the Enterprise ... - BattleIT

Chapter 1 Architects and Architecture Today 21
As we see things, an architect is, among other things, a better and more experienced developer.
We don’t believe there’s value in having architects who just speak in UML and Visio and leave
any implementation details to developers. At least, we’ve never found it easy to work with these
people when we’ve crossed paths with them.
Note This said, we recognize that titles like enterprise architect, solution architect, and perhaps
security architect look much better than a plain software architect when printed out on a business
card. But the terms are only a way to more quickly communicate your skills and expertise. When
it comes to the actual role, either you’re an architect or you’re not.
Common Misconceptions About Architects
Although international ISO standards exist to defi ne requirements, architecture, and
architects, they seem not to be taken into great account by most people. Everybody seems
to prefer crafting her own (subtly similar) defi nition for something, rather than sticking to
(or reading) the ISO defi nition for the same something.
Try asking around for the defi nition of terms such as architect, architecture, or project manager.
You can likely get distinct, and also unrelated and contrasting, answers.
Quite obviously, a set of misconceptions have grown out of the mass of personalized defi nitions
and interpretations. Let’s go through a few of them and, we hope, clear up a few of them.
The Architect Is an Analyst
This is a false statement. An architect is simply not an analyst.
At times, an architect might assist analysts during elicitations to help clarify obscure requirements
or smooth improbable requirements. At times, an architect might participate in meetings with
stakeholders. But that’s it.
In general, an analyst is a person who is an expert on the domain. An architect is not (necessarily)
such an expert. An analyst shares with an architect his own fi ndings about how the system should
work and what the system should do.
This common misconception probably originates from the incorrect meaning attributed to
the word analyst. If the word simply indicates someone who does some analysis on a system,
it is quite hard to deny the similarities between architects and analysts. Some 30 years
ago, the term system analyst was used to indicate a professional capable of making design
considerations about a system. But, at the time, the software wasn’t as relevant as it is today,
and it was merely a (small) part of an essentially hardware-based system.