What is Solution Architecture?

I usually find it challenging to explain my role to friends and colleagues. Having mostly worked as a software developer, I often get asked things like, “So you sketch buildings now?” or “Do solutions need architecture?” And while sketching is certainly a part of an architect’s job, there is plenty more to this role.

To understand what Solution Architecture is, we first need to understand what a solution is. At its most basic, a solution is a way to describe the answer to some problem — but we can take that definition further. In the Corporate and Sales worlds, determining a solution involves evaluating client needs and problems, and addressing them with appropriate systems that provide measurable improvements in place of previously deployed systems. We should, however, avoid limiting this to client needs — organizations can benefit from re-evaluating and re-solutioning their systems and as such, the value can also be delivered internally.

With this new take on what a solution is, we can now start to examine what Solution Architecture is, and how the role can be used to deliver value. To put it simply, a Solution Architect is involved with the evaluation of a business need (usually a technical one) and is tasked with crafting the description of solutions that can be used to address that need.