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Modern architectural work: from defining to ena...

Michael Plöd
October 05, 2023

Modern architectural work: from defining to enabling

Many large organizations are still working with centralized architecture related teams. Their role is often to provide architectural specifications to other teams and to ensure that these specifications are adhered to during implementation. These teams are often referred to as „ivory tower architecture“ teams, which aim at bundling high skilled architects. This role is certainly not available in abundance on the market.

However, they don’t scale in an agile environment in which we want to empower teams to make their own decisions. Certain guardrails are nevertheless necessary to ensure that the overall construct is functional. Furthermore, well-chosen guard rails can also drastically reduce the need for coordination between the teams.

We need to enable those teams to do most of the architectural work on their own while still making sure that the bits and pieces fit together. This is where Team Topologies, a methodology introduced by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais, come into play. There is one team type called „Enabling Team“.

This talk gives you a hands-on guidance how to transform a centralized architecture team towards an enabling team whose job it is to improve architectural work in other teams. You will learn:
- Which stakeholders to include in this journey
- Why the soon-to-be enabling team needs to be enabled as well and how to do that
- Where common pitfalls on this journey are
- Why this journey must be done in an agile manner with continuous learning and retrospectives

This talk will also include many examples from practical experience guiding such a transformation.

Michael Plöd

October 05, 2023
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Transcript

  1. They implement software based on requirements from the business based

    on architectural decisions from the architecture team based on timelines from the management monolithic with an aged tech stack
  2. The teams are not empowered at all. They are among

    the most downstream teams in the org.
  3. 9 Tasks Involvement in all phases and life stages of

    a software system Clarify requirements Communicate architecture Design structures Design crosscutting concepts Support implementation Evaluate architecture Amount of work + order depends on the system!
  4. Division of work Architect in the team: supports team with

    architecture tasks Architect Developers Development Team
  5. Tell me more They have a valid point They should

    be excited, isn’t responsibility and in f luence motivating?
  6. Mind the COGNITIVE LOAD of the teams. We need to

    make sure that teams aren’t overwhelmed Learning and mastering domain complexity Conducting experiments / Learning Delivering high value software
  7. Understood, and I need to get my teams to one

    of these environments Development Team Architect Developers Development Team
  8. Meanwhile the Architecture Team Do we get f ired? Aren’t

    we needed anymore? Aren’t we important anymore? What about us?
  9. Complicated Subsystem Team • Responsible for building and maintaining a

    part of the system that is highly dependent on specialist expertise • Team manages the complexity of the subsystem using speci f ic skills and expertise that are usually dif f icult to f ind or recruit. Enabling Team • Work alongside the stream-aligned teams and support them in the area of knowledge building and empowerment. • Have a strong collaborative nature and strive to understand the problems and shortcomings of the other teams • Inhouse consulting team Platform Team • Should give stream-aligned teams the possibility to do their work with a high degree of autonomy, • Platform provides self-service APIs, tools and services as an internal product Stream-aligned Team • Tailored to a business area or organizational capability (Bounded Context) • Is intended to create customer value quickly, safely and autonomously without having to delegate parts of the work to other teams.
  10. Key goals & tasks for architecture enablement Gradually shift architecture

    work into teams Design Documentation Requirments clari f ication Evaluation Get obsolete over time (OPTIONAL) After some time the teams should be able to do the architecture work on their own. Architects move into the teams. Pair Programming Challenging Moderation Education Protection Standardization Working in Mob Facilitation
  11. Need to be coaches, mentors, sparring partners and not an

    hierarchical instance. Architecture Enablers
  12. Meanwhile the architects… How to do that? That’s not part

    of my job description Do we loose power? How about my career? Aren’t we the specialists and not the teams
  13. Does everything have to be complicated here? This takes time

    and patience, let’s take a step-by-step approach
  14. Enabling future enablers Working in mobs with experienced coaches Dedicated

    training courses and personal development plans Allow them to fail Take their concerns seriously
  15. Place that team in a safety bubble f irst and

    adjust your expectations in terms of speed of adoption Let’s bring in the personal development department they can help
  16. Personal Development Establish training curriculums and coaching offers Work with

    architects and developers May have an eye on the overall transformation
  17. What is going on here? We also increase collaboration and

    decrease orders to others We are improving peoples work. They get more autonomy and freedom
  18. This isn’t that easy. We oppose this idea due to

    the current salary system 😳 🫣
  19. The salary bands Software Architect Level 1 60 - 80k

    EUR Software Architect Level 2 75 - 95k EUR Software Architect Level 3 90 - 120k EUR •Leads team of architects •Responsible for overall architecture •Gives architectural instructions to other teams •Responsible for those instructions •Designs architectures being reviewed by senior folks
  20. You have to address this Software Architect Level 1 60

    - 80k EUR Software Architect Level 2 75 - 95k EUR Software Architect Level 3 90 - 120k EUR •Leads team of architects •Responsible for overall architecture •Gives architectural instructions to other teams •Responsible for those instructions •Designs architectures being reviewed by senior folks
  21. The current state prevents architects from progressing in the salary

    / career system 🫣 This is also affects the domain experts in the context of collaborative modeling 😳
  22. OPTIONAL Goal: dissolve of the enabling team But please: don’t

    f ire anyone, those folks are super valuable in Stream- aligned Teams or in Platform Teams
  23. Developers in Stream-aligned Teams Move architecture work to their team

    Create environment of psychological safety in terms of decision making Mind their cognitive load
  24. Architects in Enabling Team Move from instructing to coaching Need

    to be enabled as well Mind and address their fears. Psychological safety is important here as well
  25. Personal Development Establish training curriculums and coaching offers Work with

    architects and developers May have an eye on the overall transformation
  26. What’s up with this person? Food for thought: How about

    a Management Enabling Team for the journey?