12 Essential Skills for Software Architects

by Dave Hendricksen

Master the Crucial Non -Technical Skills Every Software Architect Needs! Thousands of software professionals have the necessary technical qualifications to become architects, but far fewer have the crucial non -technical skills needed to get hired and succeed in this role. In today's agile environments, these "soft" skills have grown even more crucial to success as an architect. For many developers, however, these skills don't come naturally-and they're rarely addressed in formal training. Now, long-time software architect Dave Hendricksen helps you fill this gap, supercharge your organizational impact, and quickly move to the next level in your career. In 12 Essential Skills for Software Architects, Hendricksen begins by pinpointing the specific relationship, personal, and business skills that successful architects rely upon. Next, he presents proven methods for systematically developing and sharpening every one of these skills, from negotiation and leadership to pragmatism and vision. From start to finish, this book's practical insights can help you get the architect position you want-and thrive once you have it! The soft skills you need... ...and a coherent framework and practical methodology for mastering them! Relationship skills Leadership, politics, gracious behavior, communication, negotiation Personal skills Context switching, transparency, passion Business skills Pragmatism, vision, business knowledge, innovation

Genres: Architecture, Programming, Technology, Software, Computer Science, Business, Design

288 pages, CD-ROM

First published September 1, 2011

Reviews

[Rod Hilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't particularly like this book, but I want to start by saying that it's really my own fault. I should have taken a closer look at the synopsis and the table of contents, I basically read it based on the title alone and it wound up being a very different book than what I was expecting.

I was expecting a technical book for architects, or even any engineer doing architectural work and making decisions of an architectural nature. Ultimately the book is entirely nontechnical, and what it tends to view as "architects" I tend to think of more as "managers". The book is mostly about soft skills for management types and yeah, it's not really focused on management skills in terms of managing people or anything, so it's fair in that it's still focused on the skills of individual contributors.

A more accurate title for the book would be something like "Ivory Tower Architect Soft Skills: How to Interact With The Rest of the Business When You're The Most Senior Person on the Team and You No Longer Write Code".

If that's up your alley, the book is actually pretty good. Very thorough, well written, covers a lot of ground and is organized and broken up into right-sized chunks. If that's not appealing to you, I'd say give it a pass. Most of it is common sense anyway.

[Alex Ott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book not about technical side of software architecture, but about soft skills (communication, negotiations, leadership, etc.) that are need for technical people who want to be software architect.
I found this book very good, it provides many useful advices - I knew some already, but they were result of practical work, often got as result of error's analysis.
I would recommend this book for people, who will want to switch from purely technical activities to things like software architecture, where you need to work with customers, executives, and many other people.

[Farhan Khalid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technology does not run an enterprise; relationships do — Patricia Fripp

If you wish to make a man your enemy, tell him simply — You are wrong. This method works every time — Henry C. Link

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place, but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment — Lady Dorothy Nevill

Behavior is a mirror in which every one displays his own image — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don’t know what to do — John W. Holt, Jr.

Act the way you’d like to be and soon you’ll be the way you act — George W. Crane

The road to gracious behavior begins with the following steps:

Choosing relationships over correctness

Learning to delegate

Realizing that life is reflexive

Acting as though words are seeds

Dealing with others with integrity and honesty without bluntness

Confronting issues in a timely manner

Providing a professional service

Forgiving and forgetting past offenses

Does making this correction matter?

Will it cost the company significantly if I don’t speak up?

Smile / Posture / Engagement

Be present / Focus on others / Be concerned /
Be friendly / Build trust / Say yes / Listen

Allow choice / Don't stray from point / Forgive past offenses

Business people need to listen as much as they need to talk

Avoid words that personalize the comments

Find ways to express the goals of why you are requesting change

Prefer Yes over No — Reserve your No’s for special occasions

Avoid the urge to get defensive

Seek first to understand, then to be understood — Stephen Covey

Think on your feet

Prefer clarity over completeness

Don’t surprise executives

In business, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate — Chester L. Karrass

Don’t waver on decisions

Delegate authority, not accountability

Seek help when you are in over your head

Don’t cover things up

Do the right thing even when it’s hard

Listen to your gut feelings

Don’t find the differences

Find the common ground

If general agreement is not possible, make everyone slightly unhappy

Use negotiation as a means of improvement

Know what is negotiable

Play fair

Seek a collaborative context for key decisions

Learn the culture

Let others understand your thinking

Maintain an architecture decision log

Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things — Peter F. Drucker

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it — Dwight Eisenhower

Leadership is all about trust

Trust — I do what I say, and I say what I do

Bring safety through relationships

Be transparent

Be who you say you are

Be open and honest

Act with integrity

One should not make more assumptions than minimum needed

Lead by keeping things focused

Allow others to learn

Know when to stand alone

Don’t tell people how to do things; tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results — George S. Patton

Trust is always earned, never given — R. Williams

Politics is a very unsatisfactory game — Henry B. Adams

Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory — John Kenneth Galbraith

Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions

The art of getting things done by collaborating with other people

The best way to play the game of politics is to not play at all:

Treat people with respect

Be known for dealing honestly in facts

Don’t take advantage of people when they are down

Show integrity in all interactions

If you say you are going to do something, do it

Your word is your honor; it represents who you are

Success at politics = Behavior + Communication + Negotiation + Leadership

Which balls you can drop is an important skill to acquire

You will be asked to juggle many balls simultaneously

Help others achieve their objectives

Learn to enjoy the journey

Strive for excellence in the areas that matter

Be willing to compromise on lower-priority goals

Don’t take offense to poor behavior

Confront interpersonal issues privately

Execute things in a timely fashion

Failure today does not mean you will not succeed tomorrow

Realize that politically, you will not always win

Get in the game

You live in a glass house

The best you can be at any given moment is yourself — Elizabeth Alraune

Acknowledge your weaknesses

Acknowledge your strengths and interests

Beat the crowd to your boss

Let executives see all the cards

Architects bring discovery to acquisition

Give credit to others where credit is due

Be consistent in what you say

Apologizing demonstrates transparency

Learn to hear before you react

Allow others to be transparent with you

Passion is the genesis of genius — Anthony Robbins

Persistence and passion: The ultimate killer combination

Rekindling passion

Watch for opportunity — It usually seeks you and speaks quietly

Follow your instincts

Choose areas that you are passionate about

Ignore the critics — It’s your passion, your vision — not theirs

To do two things at once is to do neither — Publilius Syrus

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower — Steve Jobs

Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity not a threat — Albert Einstein

[zygimantus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average book with basic stuff nevertheless has some key points to take away.

[Maziz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good starting point to go deeper

[Abhilash Gopalakrishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though there was criticism about the book, I did find the book veery useful. Having applied it I could really scale better as an architect.

[Wayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking for more of a technical book. It is very well written for the audience intended which is more of a business architect.

[Sukhomlinov Vitaliy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not able to finish i. It seems too naive in the sense of applying the common sense behavior principles to a SWA role without any deep explanation or reasoning as of how that would help

[Daniel Noventa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent read that focuses on the non technical aspects of a software architect. Closely mirrors business skills, and their importance for an architect. Good info on the role, and what skills will help you be successful.

[Jeanne Boyarsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

"12 Essential Skills for Software Architects" covers the soft skills technical people need to advance. Parts of it are slanted towards soft skills that are specific to tech leads/architects. Other parts would fit in any soft skills book but the title gets technical folks to read it. Even for these parts, it helps that they were written by an architect as the language/writing style is easy to relate to.

The audience is architects and technical leads who want to be architects. I think it applies to any senior member of the team though. Or even someone who wants to understand what it is like to be an architect.

I could really relate to the "stateless" points as context switching is so prevalent. He has a good philosophy that architects are not managers but are part of the management team. And he explains how politics works without making it all bad. The problem is certain practices of politics not the idea itself. In fact, he quotes a definition where politics is about making decisions with a group. Nothing inherently distasteful here!

I can tell this is a book I will refer to again and again.

ps - I also like that page three has a reference to FIRST robotics - with respect to gracious behavior. (gracious professionalism in the FIRST world.)


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Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.

[Jeff Dalton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but couldn't talk myself into it. I think Dave provides sage advice for anyone in any career. But, what I missed is a human connection to the advice. I so wanted to hear stories from Dave where he used a specific technique to improve himself, team or company. Instead what I got was a standard self-help book of advice but nothing that showed me evidence of where it would improve my world.

I gave the book two stars because it provides a nice list of questions that can be added to any IT architects checklist for problem analysis.

[Khoa Tran]

I've read this book a long time ago. I feel very surprise with point of views that the book brings to me. It helps a lot to expand the mindset, attitude and the way that I am working to make it 'better' as the Software Architect role

[lehaleha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book explaining basics which are often overlooked or underestimated.

[Paul Floyd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairly good.

[Stefan Papp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book, I should have read 10 to 15 years ago when I was at the peak of my focus on technology. It covers the most essential part when you are advancing as a technologist.