7 habits for developing a Technical Architect Mindset

  1. Decisions are not dichotomies of either/or.
    It’s not clicks or code, its clicks and code, or clicks at first, and then replacement with code. Or too much code, for the wrong reason, or too many clicks, for the right non-functional performance requirements. Some questions aren’t ‘Should I do this in clicks or code’ its ‘Should we do this at all’ or ‘What happens if I do it this way?’
  2. Becoming an Architect isn’t a destination.
    It’s a progressive journey that does not end. It may reach an inflection point (with a job title), but it’s not a mountain you climb where you reach the top and gaze down on the world below.
  3. You can’t study all the answers, but you can seek the experience.
    There is no book of ready-made answers to every situation. There are only things you see and hear and read. Ideas picked up from colleagues, war stories told by clients or friends, that project that failed, that idea that didn’t work out, that thing that succeeded. You do it over and over and over. The study gives you ingredients but cooking the meal, that comes from experience.
  4. There are no right answers. There are principles to learn and apply.
    There are better or worse answers, depending on the circumstances. Do you know all the circumstances? Have you considered the options for the answers? Do you know the questions to ask?
  5. It’s not about being ‘right’
    Indeed, you might not know if the design has succeeded or failed until years later. What was a success could be declared a failure with changing business conditions, changing assumptions, changing politics, changing technology. Often the right answer isn’t easily seen, it is simply your answer, supported by the reasons you can articulate and accepting the trade-offs you know come with it. If you think you are the smartest person in the room… then you are on your way to failure. Staggering insecurity is a feature, not a bug.
  6. The idea is the easy part, the persuasion is where all the work is.
    Can you convince a room full of people they are looking at the problem the wrong way? Can you justify your choices with the right props? Can you use diagrams, analogies, examples, stories, a raised voice or a timely question to win over a group of people?
  7. More here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND-dX-__I1Y&t=528s

From https://limitexception.com/another-7-habits-for-developing-a-technical-architect-mindset-448c9f3fec13