Selling Enterprise Architecture

Software Architecture itself is a very complex subject but try adding on to that the element of it being Enterprise and you have a conundrum! When you read job descriptions for an EA role usually this one is buried and relegated to second tier requirements - consensus building & communication skills. But when you think about how usually an enterprise is structured and works - the politics of it & silos - these requirements assume significance and come to the forefront. An architect who is like a deep brooding scientist who creates mind boggling inventions but is very soft-spoken, reserved and an introvert will find it challenging to assume the mantle of a chief architect or EA in an enterprise.

This brings us to the topic of discussion - how do you sell enterprise architecture to the various silos and overcome various political agendas that may be in play during an architectural discussion? Please remember that these are some thoughts/ musings rather than a tried and trusted approach but as they say … you got to begin somewhere!

First and foremost every architect must be true to the cause of building something beautiful and unique and long lasting.  He/she at some level is like an artist and the work ultimately speaks volumes about the talent, expertise and knowledge of the architect. If the architect is hung up on/ too defensive of the ideas and principles that are dear to him/her, then there can never be a discussion or collaboration of ideas and hence choosing what is THE best is a herculean effort! For example, I was reading a very interesting viewpoint which was that it is not necessary to have ONE architecture in an enterprise. Of course when you think about there being ONE architecture which everyone subscribes to, then imagery of reuse and leveraging common components, services comes in. And there are architects who after seeing benefit of one architecture/ pattern advocate that for every project! Be wary of such architects.  Rather than the architecture, the EA should focus on ensuring that there are one set of shared design goals that cut across the majority of platforms and solutions. The concepts of single identity and federated authentication are prime examples that benefit all stakeholders. Similarly component libraries, styling toolkit that provide immediate lift to any organization developing web applications should be promoted across the enterprise. Same goes for enterprise wide agile practices adoption and mobile first strategy.

And that brings us to the core argument. EA should be as much an accomplished negotiator and salesman as he/ she is an accomplished Java/Microsoft specialist!  Technologies matter but not as much as getting alignment and consensus. And one of the most basic ideas that can help EA's is that when presenting an argument they should bring passion to the table but only what is enough to put across the point. Then they must delve in and decode the mental and moral framework of the party who is listening in to ensure that they can drive home the point. There might be silos in the enterprise which care about cost cutting, some might care about mobile solutions and some other about security. EA should cater to each audience based on what is dear to them and then provide the salient points of the argument/ solution which addresses their context to their satisfaction before creating a buy-in. In the absence of this effort any enterprise wide effort will fall flat on its face. Biases are difficult to overcome and even more difficult is selling against those biases but that must be the first page in every EA's practicing vocabulary.

An EA is not just an artist or a salesman or a negotiator - he is also a politician who works on give and take principle. If giving something small to a silo in an organization accelerates the adoption of more enterprise wide BIG idea - then that is a small give and a large take. Some transactions will leave you with a negative balance but overall if you build credibility and positive balance - you would have succeeded.

EA is like the fabled pied piper and he is supposed to herd everyone in the organization right from the very top to the very bottom into a rhythm that is as synchronous as the heartbeat of a healthy patient. He or she may not possess the magical flute but that is replaced metaphorically by excellent communication, negotiation, presentation and listening skills.

In absence of that the EA might have the best wares to sell - but no buyer will come by. 

Be good at selling first.