The First Ninety Days as Head of IT Architecture

Starting a new role as Head of IT Architecture is both exciting and challenging, in equal parts. Your position will be critical in shaping your organisation’s technological future, aligning IT strategies with business goals, and driving innovation. To help you succeed, I have pulled together a roadmap for your first 90 days.

1.??????? Build Relationships and Credibility

An architecture leadership role is a business-centric position and demands strong relationships with stakeholders, your team, and the broader business and technology communities. Relationships and credibility will be the foundation of your success.?

Key Actions in Your First 90 Days:

• Engage Your Team: Schedule open discussions to understand their perspectives, challenges, and ideas. Be transparent about your vision and encourage collaborative input.
• Collaborate Across Functions: Position yourself as a strategic partner to business units, demonstrating a commitment to solving their challenges beyond technology.
• Demonstrate Value: Identify and execute quick, impactful wins to establish credibility early and build trust with stakeholders.

?

Pro Tip: Use relationship-mapping tools to identify key influencers and stakeholders in your organisation.

2.??????? Understand the Business and Its Strategic Goals

The role of IT architecture extends far beyond technology; it’s about driving business outcomes. Understanding the organisation’s objectives is vital to aligning IT with business priorities.

?

Key Actions in the First Month:

• Meet Key Stakeholders: Conduct one-on-one meetings with executives, department heads, and team leaders to gain clarity on strategic priorities.
• Review Documentation: Examine the company’s business strategy, IT roadmap, and past architecture initiatives for context and alignment.
• Ask Insightful Questions: Understand how IT supports business goals and identify gaps or misalignments that need addressing.

Pro Tip: Use frameworks like SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) to evaluate strategic alignment effectively.

3.??????? Assess the Current State of IT Architecture

Before setting a future course, it’s essential to understand where the organisation stands today. A thorough assessment of the existing architecture will guide your focus.

?

Key Actions in Days 30-60:

• Baseline the Existing Architecture: Start to understand the key business processes and any associated data; document critical systems, platforms, and integrations; identify pain points, risks, constraints, and dependencies.
• Evaluate the Architecture Team: Assess team skills, roles, and responsibilities. Identify gaps and opportunities for up-skilling or restructuring.
• Perform a Maturity Assessment: Gauge the organisation’s architectural maturity across business, data, applications, and technology.
• Assess In-flight Projects: Assess the viability and alignment of any inflight projects. Consider stopping or pausing any that are not aligned to strategic objectives or which don’t provide sufficient RoI
• Identify Quick Wins: Pinpoint areas where small changes can deliver significant improvements quickly.

?

Pro Tip: Leverage tools like TOGAF or Zachman frameworks to structure your assessment.

4.??????? Focus on Leadership and Culture

An effective IT architecture leader inspires teams and fosters a collaborative, adaptive culture. Leadership is about building trust and promoting shared ownership of outcomes.

?

Key Actions Early On:

• Build Trust: Be consistent, transparent, and approachable. Trust is built through actions that align with your words.
• Promote Collaboration: Break down silos by encouraging open communication and cooperation between IT and business units.
• Invest in Your Team: Identify professional development opportunities to enhance your team’s capabilities.
• Model Adaptability: Demonstrate a willingness to learn, adapt, and embrace constructive feedback.

?

Pro Tip: Use team-building exercises or workshops to align team members with the organisational vision. Set SMART (specific, achievable, realistic, and time bound) objectives so that people understand what is expected of them, are positioned for success, and progress can be measured effectively.

5.??????? Define the Target State and Vision

By the end of your second month, you should articulate a clear vision for the organisation’s IT architecture. This vision will guide all future initiatives.

?

Key Actions in Days 60-90:

• Align with Strategy: Ensure the proposed target architecture addresses key business objectives like scalability, cost efficiency, and innovation.
• Prioritise Initiatives: Identify critical areas to tackle first. Balance quick wins with longer-term goals to maintain momentum.
• Create Feedback Loops: Share your vision with stakeholders and refine it based on their input to ensure alignment and buy-in.

?

Pro Tip: Use visual tools like roadmaps or architecture diagrams to communicate your vision effectively.

6.??????? Develop a Longer-Term Action Plan

Your first 90 days should culminate in a 12–18-month action plan that outlines key projects and initiatives to achieve your vision.

?

Key Actions in Month 3:

• Outline Key Initiatives: Create a roadmap that includes projects, milestones, timelines, and required resources.
• Secure Leadership Buy-In: Present your action plan to leadership, emphasising how it addresses both immediate needs and strategic goals.
• Establish Metrics: Define success criteria for your initiatives and ensure they align with organisational objectives.

?

Pro Tip: Use KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to measure progress and demonstrate impact.

?Finally...

Your first 90 days as Director of IT Architecture will set the tone for your tenure. By focusing on relationships, understanding the business, assessing the current state, and defining a clear vision, you’ll lay a solid foundation for success. Embrace the challenge, lead with purpose, and keep business outcomes at the forefront of your efforts. Your early contributions will define your legacy as a transformative leader. Don't be afraid to fail, it's how you recover that matters. Learn from your mistakes.

?

Pro Tip: Maintain a journal of your progress and insights during the first 90 days to reflect and adapt as needed. This is not only a useful tool for tracking your progress during this transitional phase, but it can even serve as a how-to guide in any successive engagements (and even the basis for that book you have always meant to write).

?

If you find this article interesting, or even if you don’t, I am keen to hear your comments. Are there are any aspects of the above you would do differently? What would be your foci?

?

In the event you would like to discuss this or any other topic in more detail, then please don’t hesitate to reach out.

?