How Do I Become a Change Architect?

For businesses, internal demand has split into two rival camps. On the one hand are network managers who are committed to ensuring the stability of the system. They must protect their environment and allow the network to operate stably. On the other side are network users, who often work hard to find unique, more practical software and hardware products to help them achieve their work goals. The job of an application architect is to balance the application needs of both parties.

Application Architect

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For businesses, internal demand has split into two rival camps. One side is a network dedicated to ensuring system stability

With the development of enterprise IT technology, the network products in the enterprise are also increasing. When network management personnel are managing IT systems, they are facing more than just a technical problem. Servers, storage, bandwidth optimization equipment, etc., hope to provide users with better speeds and more secure online environments, but often they do not work as expected. Users do not recognize the investment of enterprises, and a large amount of IT investment does not produce the due value. Enterprise investment has not brought better user experience to users. Therefore, enterprises urgently need a bond that can coordinate the relationship between technology and applications, which is why the role of application architects has become increasingly important.

The role of the application architect is so important, so what kind of profession is the application architect? What basic capabilities do I need? How can I become a good application architect and what needs an application architect to focus on?

"My earliest work was in large-scale media production. Until 1999, I started to contact four-tier exchange, entered the early stage of application delivery, and experienced four-tier exchange, load balancing, and application delivery. With the development of the market, we found Network architects who can solve problems during the load balancing phase can't solve the problems during the application delivery stage. Enterprises begin to need architects to jump out of the network level and look at the problem from the application level. It is the inevitable of enterprise development. Ke Wen, F5's sales director in China who shares the same views with Wu Jingtao, also pointed out that in the network architect stage, the main problem is to solve the problem of network connectivity and the establishment of the company's intranet. not tall. However, with the development of Internet technology, network-based applications have become more abundant, and users' demands for the network have continued to increase. Not only must they be able to access the Internet, they must also be fast, stable, and secure. The traditional network architect can only improve from the network level, not from the overall application of the entire enterprise, from the user side to the enterprise side to comprehensively upgrade and transform. However, the application architect can assume this responsibility. The application architect is in a high position in the enterprise, and the perspective of the problem is not confined to a single aspect. From the perspective of the overall situation, they will naturally stand high and look far away. Moreover, they can also mobilize all the resources in the enterprise to design a reliable and scalable architecture, thereby improving the efficiency of application operation, improving user satisfaction, ensuring that fast, available and secure applications are provided to end users, creating for the enterprise Value and predict problems that can occur during application and delivery, and resolve issues before they occur. ^[1]

The role of an application architect is different from that of a network architect who does not seek meritorious service, but seeks nothing. The purpose of the application architect framework is to directly create value for the enterprise, provide momentum for enterprise development, and improve management. Therefore, application architects must fully understand the needs of users, accurately define the needs of users, and communicate with users and develop comprehensive solutions for them. Application architects will affect people, Process and technology, once he starts to construct the architecture, he is creating an environment and conditions to make the process more efficient, high-speed and meet the needs of users. If the work of the CIO is a process from scratch, then the architect is a process from scratch. The unified planning and management of the enterprise's IT resources can create greater value.

However, not all companies are aware of the importance of architects. Although banks, telecommunications research institutes, ZTE, Huawei and other large companies have seen the importance of architects, many companies are restricted by their own corporate architecture and rights. They have not realized the importance of the architecture. They seem to save money through the purchase of a single product. However, due to the lack of overall planning, they cannot realize the overall grasp of the entire enterprise application.

Although the architectural design seems to be very easy, it is only a simple plan, but because the IT system in real life is too complicated, there are many people and things involved in planning, development, maintenance and change. Therefore, the application architect must not only design for the appropriate size and performance when designing the architecture, but also consider as many future things as possible during the planning stage. It must work for stability, but also for maintainability and scalability. And many performance indicators. In addition to technical considerations, human factors must also be considered, including the organization of personnel, the organization of software processes, team collaboration and communication, etc., so as to better meet the needs of users, applications, and business leaders.

What capabilities do architects need? The application architect should be an admirable person, both in character and technology, with a certain personality charm.

First of all, in terms of character, we must be sincere and dare to take responsibility. Although the technical level, communication skills, interpersonal relationships and other conditions are important to the application architect, those who do not have the ability to take responsibility cannot become a good application architect. Application architect is a high-risk industry and a long-term accumulation process. Application architect does not just consider a problem and a project. The responsibility of application architect is to consider from the beginning to the end. When an organization needs to change , The application architect is looking for a different business approach to achieve business value and achieve the desired goal. If there is an error in this process, the application architect must be brave and quickly propose the corresponding improvement plan according to the problem, with sincerity Attitude to seek the understanding of users.

Secondly, in terms of technical capabilities, the most important thing for an application architect is not professionalism but erudition. Generally speaking, the position of an application architect in the enterprise is the most core. Therefore, he needs to understand some aspects of network, development, systems, security, and business. Therefore, an enterprise application architect needs to understand the knowledge and organization of different industries. Situation, understand the human factors in the organization, understand the operation of all departments, if you do not understand the business of the organization, it will be difficult to become the architect of the organization, because he cannot coordinate and direct all departments in the enterprise.

In addition, Ke Wen said that good communication and coordination skills are indispensable for application architects. A project requires the support of various skills, such as business analysts, data architects, network architects, infrastructure architects, and security architects. Application architects must continuously coordinate with staff from different departments. In order to successfully combine the relevant staff he needs, and through mutual communication with the staff, finally determine what needs to be done, how to achieve the goal, what the ultimate goal is, etc., but also to convince others which is the problem, Which is the right way, only by combining these can be a qualified application architect. In addition, in the context of the current global financial crisis, how to successfully persuade corporate CEOs to adopt this structure is also an important test of the architect's ability to communicate and coordinate.

In addition, for an application architect, there are many challenges to be faced. At present, many enterprises' applications are not flexible enough to build and have no integration capabilities. They are only temporarily added when the enterprise needs them. This should be It is taken into account when building the architecture. When the user objects of business departments and functional departments of enterprises have increased, application architects also face the same challenge. They need to set up a structure that meets their needs according to different users, and consider what special work they should have when they work. form. In addition, in the current global financial crisis, how to achieve a good balance between a well-planned structure and the company's capital investment, human costs, and time cost, and when the designed structure does not meet user expectations How to remedy, after the deployment of the architecture, numerous application problems and other issues are challenges that the architect cannot avoid.

In short, architects can not be cultivated through short-term learning. Application architects need to be very familiar with the enterprise and can coordinate work between all departments, so talents who have worked in this enterprise for a long time can competent. As mentioned earlier, although the application architect is a management job, it also needs to have a certain technical background. Only an architect who understands both product characteristics and management can become a good architect.