Microsoft's Architecture MVP Changes

In late February of 2008 Microsoft dissolved the Microsoft Architecture MVP award as part of realignment of the MVP program to be more product oriented. Dissolved is a wrong word … so read on. This came as a surprise to many award recipients - including myself – who lost a “nice to have” title. This development, however, had a very positive impact on the Architecture MVP community, because it forced the architects ask themselves some hard questions about their role in the community and the role Microsoft plays in the software architecture discipline.

This post features some highlights from the ferociously bubbling listserv.

At first there was confusion. Participants understood the reasoning behind moving towards a product oriented approach, but they couldn’t fathom the disappearance of the architecture competency. Then there was anger – well summarized by one of the participants: “I believe the shutdown of the MVP Architect program is just one more piece of evidence that … Microsoft does not appreciate the role of the architect in driving large buy decisions.”

Then a word of wisdom came from Simon Guest. In order for the MVP program to grow the structure has to change. MVPs will be aligned to a product, but will be able to select a discipline such as architecture. Simon then called for an open forum at the MVP summit in Redmond on April 15^th.

Identity crisis started to emerge – some participants, including Martin Fowler, voiced their reserved opinions about the value of the MVP award. Valid questions arose – why do architects communicate so little with each other? What role do architects play in organizations? What do they do for Microsoft? The consensus was clear – although there is a clear need for robust architecture communities the MVP award infrastructure didn’t make individual architects feel part of a single unit.

Finally discussion merged onto taking proactive steps to define the scope and purpose of the group. Familiar questions arose: how do we define different types of architects? What are the definitions of architecture and architect? Should we just take some definitions from IASA? Microsoft has established a work space where the discussion of these various topics will commence.

There are no clear answers, but there are good questions – Microsoft is moving in the right direction albeit at its own pace.

Constantin K.
Firebrand Architect™
www.SoftwareArchitectures.com

Business Improvement Through Better Software Architecture

In the 10^th edition of The Architecture Journal, published by Microsoft, a son & father pair have done an outstanding job describing architect roles in business software development. It’s not very often that you come across such a well written, eloquent, yet terse piece of writing that energetically captures the responsibilities of architect roles and the relationships between those roles.

The authors, Sten & Per Sundblad, state in the opening paragraph that “business software exists for one reason only: to support the business and its activities … there is no other reason for business software.” This is the premise of their philosophy and a fact that software architects often forget. Countless articles have been written over the past five years on lack of alignment between IT and business. Few of those articles presented the issues and solutions with proper level of abstraction that made reading this article equivalent to reading a really book that you don’t want to end.

The article is authors’ perspective and by no means a standard, but it’s a good use of your time and deserves placement in the Essential Selection.

Firebrand Architect on duty: CK

Duties of a Software & Solution Architect

What does it mean to be a software architect? How about a solution architect? There are as many opinions as definitions of software architecture. It is clear that a software architect is not simply a senior software engineer. Responsibilities of a software architect cover a wide array of skills outside of technical field of knowledge. The listing below is a series of opinion pieces by various bloggers and web sites on the definition of a software and solution architects.

• An Overly Long Guide to Being A Software Architect David Ing
• What does the Solutions Architect career path look like? Mark Baciak
• Anatomy of a Software Development Role: Solution Architect Robert Bogue (developer.com)
• Responsibilities of a Software Architect SoftwareArchitectures.com
• What are the Duties, Skills, etc. of a Chief Software Architect? (previous page) SEI
• WWISA view WWISA

Additional sources will be added to this post in the near future, including Microsoft’s definition. This is only a start. Add your definition or reference source.

- Firebrand Architect on duty: CK