The day I became an architect

In the fall of 2016, I accepted my current job at ADP (obligatory disclaimer: opinions expressed here do not represent my employer) as a Chief Architect at ADP Innovation Lab. Before that, I wore many hats for a few years at a startup -- from "Chief Scientist" to "Lead Engineer" to "Platform Architect," not necessarily in that order.

Chief Architect was the most challenging role I've ever accepted. Software architecture is a poorly defined concept, and the expectations of software architects are poorly defined. It is easier to say what an architect is not than what an architect is.

I tried to articulate what it means to be a Chief Architect back in 2018, two years into my role. Since then, I was promoted to Distinguished Engineer in 2023 and have grown as a person and a professional.

What triggered my professional growth spurt and promotion was an epiphany that I am more effective if I help engineers grow rather than do things myself. Historically, I would build things and then pass them off to engineers. Instead, I realized that empowering the team to make a collaborative architecture decision and grow together is a hell of a lot more rewarding than the way I used to do things.

“Thinking Like an Architect ” on InfoQ puts it well:

Architects aren't the smartest people on the team, they are the ones making everyone else smarter. An architect is an IQ amplifier.

The day I truly became a Chief Architect was the day I realized I must delegate.

Growth comes with pain

My epiphany and growth spurt are not without pain. It is easy for an individual contributor to contribute individually. Writing code to fulfill your task is easy. Coming up with an idea and building it yourself is easy. Being a trusted advisor , something I viewed as my career goal back in 2009, is also easy: you have only one person to convince.

The hard part is building something bigger than you can do alone. You need people. Building relationships, convincing people, and communicating vision is not easy.

Computers are deterministic. Each computer behaves the same way as the others. People are volatile, moody, and have their personalities. As a chief architect, I have to manage both the up and down the org chart. I have to participate in project management and release planning, technical decision-making, visionary leadership, and writing documentation.

I have to be the most versatile and adaptable team member with a sole mission: to be an IQ amplifier, empower the team to grow, and build something much bigger than I can do on my own. It's not easy. I have my anxieties and fears.

Last week, I came across someone who knows something from my past. This person works for a major wine and spirits company that bought the mobile ERP platform I led before joining ADP. Thousands of sales professionals are still using the platform I built -- ten years after I helped onboard that particular customer.

That project was also one of those projects that are bigger than anything I could do on my own. A team of developers, QA testers, subject matter experts, and project managers worked on it. I was responsible for the underlying product platform and led the engineers' team in building it.

The most rewarding part of being a Chief Architect is seeing the engineers on my team empowered by the ideas I discuss with them to build significant and impactful products. Knowing that these products are still in use years later and will be in use for years to come is a confidence boost like no other. Be it a visit to the trading floor when I worked on Wall Street to see traders use my software, seeing someone use the ERP platform I built at a startup, or the payroll app I am working on now -- meeting my customers is an incredible reward.

Some final thoughts

Becoming a Chief Architect and Distinguished Engineer was a challenging journey filled with important realizations. I learned that true leadership means empowering others and making collaborative decisions. The role requires adaptability, vision, and the ability to amplify the team’s intelligence. Despite the challenges and anxieties, seeing the lasting impact of our work and meeting the users who benefit from our innovations is incredibly rewarding. This journey has shaped my professional growth and highlighted the importance of delegation and trust in building a strong, dynamic team.