EA - Enterprise Architecture in Action

This starts to explain the challenge that most organizations face in trying to “grow” architects.  The traditional developer evolutionary path focuses on training the left-brain, but a good architect requires both a well developed right-brain as well as left-brain.

(This is an EA blog and not a neuroscience blog, so if you want to understand all the differences between the left-brain and the right-brain I suggest reading “A Whole New Mind”, but suffice it to say that the left-brain is sequential and logical, but the right-brain is holistic or non-sequential and intuitive.)

Diving deeper into “A Whole New Mind”, Mr. Pink describes six essential “senses”, as he calls them, which are all right-brain-directed aptitudes.  He argues that these senses complement our left-brain-directed reasoning and are essential to success in the new “conceptual era” that we now find ourselves entering.

Whereas he describes the value of these senses in a generic context, I’ll describe their value to the architect.

1. Design – In order for a system to be successful it must first of all be usable and second of all it must be used.  A system that merely delivers function may not meet either of these criteria.  Particularly when implementing a system that changes the way people work, it is important to design a system that compels the user to explore the new functionality and incorporate it into their normal way of working.  One could argue the Blackberry and the iPhone have very similar functionality, but whereas as the Blackberry took nearly a decade to become ubiquitous, the iPhone achieved the same within its first year.  Why?  Design.
2. Story – Architects often have the skill of being able to hold an enormous amount of complexity in their heads at one time, but the successful architect can convey this complexity to others in a way that is simple.  The unsuccessful architects is often frustrated by the fact that their audience cannot appreciate or even understand the elegant models they develop to manage complexity no matter how many times they take them through the details.  But the successful architect uses metaphor and story to convey their message.
3. Symphony – Can anyone doubt that architects must be big picture thinkers?  The sense of symphony is to see the whole composition, to understand how a change in each component will affect the whole.
4. Empathy – As any fan of Star Trek knows, humans are not known for being logical.  An architect’s ability to really put himself/herself in the shoes of the user is enormously important.  This ability is a form of empathy, feeling with the user not just feeling for the user.
5. Play – The notion of play has lost much of its frivolous taboo in recent years.  Much research points to the effectiveness of games at teaching problem solving skills.  In some case games can themselves be used as problem solving techniques.  And last but certainly not least, the value of “fun” has been shown to be significant in boosting productivity, facilitating adoption of new ideas and ways of working, and even enhancing the retention of knowledge.  When the LoJack system was first deployed one factor leading to its adoption was that police officer found it fun to use the system; tracking down a stolen car took on a video game-like quality and thus the police embraced it whole heartedly.  An Architect should be able to incorporate the right mix of seriousness and play in the systems he/she designs.
6. Meaning – Although the current “Great Recession” has caused many people and corporations to focus more on survival, this will likely prove to be a minor blip in a trend that has seen the developed world search out for meaning in life as it feels more and more comfortable that its basic material needs will be met.  This applies to both individuals as well as corporations; how many corporations today have adopted corporate value statements that include the responsibility of the corporation to society as a whole.  Enterprise Architects are well position to help balance the fiduciary responsibility of a corporation to its shareholder with these socially-conscious corporate value statements.

All this might lead one to conclude what many have always feared, that architects cannot be grown; they must be found.  Fortunately as Mr. Pink points out one can develop their right-brain skills just as we have learned to develop our left-brain skills.  He offers exercises for developing the six senses in his book.

So I believe architects can be grown, but to do so requires a program that develops both left-brain and right-brain skills.  And whereas experience does count for a lot in the discipline of architecture, I’m not so convinced that the experience one acquires from years of being a developer or a project manager is what one needs to be a good architect.

It is my hope that the architect profession evolves to the point where architect training starts much earlier in the career of individuals.  In fact I would hope (and I believe there are schools working on this) that architecture evolves to the point where colleges and universities offer IT and Enterprise Architecture degrees just as they offer building architecture degrees.  And these degrees will develop both left-brain and right-brain skills just as current day design school do.