Solution Architect Skills Assessment Idea
I’d like to talk about another idea I have for improving system architecture which is growing Solution Architects. I believe that one of the primary value propositions of an architect is to mentor and transfer knowledge from their architecture experience to the less experienced. I’ve observed that self-proclaimed architects tend to pull from their background such as software/hardware/mechanical engineering, business analysis, packaged software implementers/configurators, even project management! Not too surprisingly there is a significant bias to what these individuals feel are required skills for Solution Architect. I’m not all that confident that there is a right and wrong skills set for the generic Solution Architect, but I wonder if there is a set of core skills that an architect should obtain before acquiring the title Solution Architect to mitigate poor solutions as well as confusion from those around him/her.
I admit, what has triggered this entry is a result of trying to quantify what a Solution Architects is as a result of meeting countless imposters and witnessing their countless system design blunders. It appears that there is no accepted, industry-wide standard skill set that a Solution Architect must have and I see this as a need that must be filled…so I’ll invent one. Here is an approach a fellow colleague and I have come up with which I’d like to throw out to see if it might be interesting to the Architect Community.
The Approach: I used to perform skills assessments while a technical consultant to measure an individual’s skills for a particular project. The result of the skills assessment was a gap analysis which I would use to contribute to a Readiness Plan that would be used to ramp up the technical team for a large project. This approach has worked well for me and mitigated poor system design and solution delivery risks early in the project lifecycle. I’ve taken this concept and applied to produce a development plan for those wanting to become a Solution Architect. The high-level process we’ve come up with to date goes something like this:
1. Build Skills List for a Solution Architect
2. Have an experienced Solution Architect assign the maturity an individual would require for each skill such as:
a. Value Description
b. 0 0 Non Existent. This skill does not currently exist.
c. 1 1 Weak. This skill exists but not able to work independently without assistance
d. 2 2 Moderate. Good skills exist but requires periodic assistance.
e. 3 3 Strong. Highly capable, this person is often sought after to assist others.
3. Have an experienced Solution Architect interview a candidate and assign a value based on the same value table above to as accurately as possible determine the candidates ability for each skill in the Skills List
4. Calculate the skills gap for each skill of the candidate
5. Stack rank the sills based on the skills gap in descending order
6. For each skill that requires maturing, have the experienced Solution Architect list prescriptive recommended guidance describing what the candidate should consider for improving that skill
7. Have the candidate then assign a priority for each skill requiring maturing based on skill gap and the estimated effort to mature the skill
8. Build the candidate’s development plan using the guidance from the experienced Solution Architect.
I’ve run this approach past a few colleagues and it seems to be intriguing…at least in theory. I think that the trick is identifying the specific skills and their maturity value. Like I noted above, I don’t know if there is a right or wrong skill set but wonder if the skill set should be maintained by a community of architects. I’ve started such a list based on information from the Microsoft Solution Framework, industry research and my experience. Below is a brief outline of the actual skill assessment document and I are building. We have more on this so if you’re interested please let me know. Also, note that the skills are grouped by MSF team role because we think a Solution Architect must have strong skills in every project team role but is an expert in Solution Architecture.
Program/Project Management
Scope Management
Requirements Gathering
Acceptance Criteria
Roles and Responsibilities
Communications Management
Team Model
Estimating
Inter-team processes
Trade-off Strategy
Commercials
Risk management
Progress Tracking
Project Planning
Solution Architecture
Design Documentation
Entity Relationship Diagrams
Object Oriented Design Patterns
Workflow
Design Skills
Design and Develop for Performance
Design and Develop for Security
Design for SOA
Patterns
Building Blocks
Artifacts
Methodologies and Techniques
Quality Attribute Skills
Business to Technology Strategy
Alignment and Investment Strategy
Valuation
Industry Concerns
Business Fundamentals
Business Community Organizational Aspects
IT Environment
Organizing
Engineering
Operations
Governance
Project Management Capabilities
Human Dynamics
Communication
Situational Awareness
Leadership
Product Management
Business Analysis
Business Process Analysis
Business Process Execution
Development
Design Documentation
Unified Modeling Language
Entity Relationship Diagrams
Object Oriented Design Patterns
Testing
Test Planning
Defect Management
Reporting
Resource Planning
Daily Test Process
Testing Environment
Function Testing
Security Testing
Usability Testing
Regression Testing
Performance Testing
System/Integration Testing
Build Management
Unit Testing
Automation Testing
User Experience
Usage Scenarios
Sequence Modeling
Business Process Modeling
Unified Modeling Language
Activity Diagrams
Sequence Diagrams
Use Case Diagrams
Business Process Analysis and Design
User Interface Design
Release Management
Deployment
Network Architecture
Operations Manuals
Installation Instructions
Pilots