Architects: Sell Your Story
The Architect. Depicted as Morpheus of “The Matrix” fame or as a business-suit-wearing giant. Either way, they dump a giant specification on your desk, ask you to read it, and ‘ask questions.’ From their steely-eyed demeanor, questions you’re convinced they don’t want you to ask.
Exaggerated? Perhaps…
When I first joined this industry as a software engineer, I worked with several architects with elements of these personas. They were intimidating. Perhaps unintentionally, they established themselves in a position of authority, and there was never any thought of a junior questioning their ideas.
Architects are asked to come up with technical designs to solve complex problems. They use their brains and experience to come up with ideas & plans to arrive at a good outcome. But coming up with a plan is only a fraction of the problem. They can’t deliver these large projects themselves.
Significant, complex problems are, by nature, impossible (or exceedingly difficult) to solve by individuals or small teams. More teams, and therefore more people, mean more communication is required. An Architect’s plans craft a high-level story on how to navigate complex problems. To achieve the objectives, teams need to know “What to Do,” but it’s much more important to hear Why you believe it needs to be done this way.
As an Architect, your plans might be reviewed by an Architecture Review Board (ARB), but it seems rare to be reviewed by those who have to build the thing. I argue that reviewing and challenging the design by the people building it is critical.
Your vision of how to achieve the best outcome is your story. Sell them your story. Tell them Why, and let them test you.
As an Architect, having your architecture reviewed, critiqued, and challenged by those asked to build it provides fantastic business benefits. You’ll get the following:
- Buy-In
- Improve the Outcome
- Reduce Risk
- Shape the Next Generation
- Improve your Craft
Buy-In
People are not robots. They have emotions and desires. Motivations. Being told what to do can accomplish the job, but this makes the relationship transactional and disincentivizes the people building it.
Empowering teams to buy into “The Why” can be powerful. Ideally, teams need to understand the Why behind a product they’re building, so understanding your thinking should be no different. They need to understand the background and rationale of your designs.
Buy-in happens when others feel deeply connected to an idea as if it is their own. To achieve buy-in, you must let your design and yourself be challenged. Present your design, your ideas, and thoughts to the team. Share as much context as possible on how you arrived at your plan. Complex problems always involve trade-offs, always tricky balancing acts to navigate.
Share how you settled on your decisions. You’ve had time to think deeply about the problems. Let them ask the questions. You’ve probably asked them yourself. Lead them on the thinking process, but guide them through the paths you’ve already considered.
Once teams have bought in, two things can happen:
- Your team takes ownership.
- You can start letting go.
By reviewing & challenging the plan, the team has now had their voice heard and should engage with the design as their own. This is when it is time for you to start loosening the reigns of your plan. You are no longer the owner of the design but the custodian.
custodian: a person who has responsibility for taking care of or protecting something
“Owner” implies power — “this is mine.” To me, “custodian” has a much better, softer image of responsibility. I imagine a shepherd looking after her flock.
This doesn’t mean you’re entirely off the hook. As an architect, it is still critical you stay with the design. Keep focused on the big picture and help the overall vision “stay on target.” Keep your flock safe. You are providing guardrails for the development teams to stay within. The Buy-In has allowed the teams to get behind the idea, feel empowered, and run with it, but you should still be there to provide support & “see the forest for the trees.”
Improve the Outcome
You may have your design reviewed by peers or ARBs, which should point you in good directions (or at least rules you must follow). However, it amazes me how many good ideas & suggestions come from junior staff. This is a fast-moving industry: new thinking, patterns, libraries, and tooling seems to crystallize daily. Don’t let an opportunity to consider other viewpoints go to waste.
In smaller organizations, you may not have any peers or ARBs. It might just be you. It is important to have other eyes across your plans. Strength in Numbers!
But when you can have ARB, peers, and teams review your design, “choose both.”
Reduce Risk
When the development team has bought into the design, they are in a much better position to reduce project risks. Your in-depth session with them, allowing them to challenge it, fosters a much deeper understanding than simply following directions. This knowledge leads to much better micro-level decisions and an overall risk reduction. You’ll dodge lots of icebergs this way.
Shape the Next Generation
As Architects, we navigated our careers with help (or hindrance) from those leaders who shape us. Some gave of their time generously, others perhaps less so. You have to decide who you want to be.
Involving those less experienced than yourself in the review process helps them step up. If you give them a safe environment to question and seek to understand, you’ll help them develop their thinking and confidence. You are shaping the next generation and leaving your legacy.
Improve Your Craft
Architects are communicators. Their ultimate value comes from being able to explain things to others. We don’t improve any skill without practice. Selling your story helps you improve your craft and is an opportunity not to be missed. Crafting the story lets you focus on your audience and how to lead them to your understanding. You’ll improve your presentation skills by thinking this way.
Creating a safe place
Selling your story relies on creating a safe place for those who may be more junior than you. Hierarchy exists in the workplace, and breaking these barriers down can be challenging. Asking junior people to challenge your thinking asks them to be brave and step into the unknown. I offer a few techniques you should consider when facilitating the discussion.
Encourage
Show positive energy and encourage anyone to say anything. The first person to speak up needs positive reinforcement. This will allow others to feel safe and take their own step.
Call on a friend
To help things progress, call on someone in the audience you feel confident can engage in the discussion. You may like to prepare this in advance to help break the ice.
Show, don’t tell
When queried, questioned, or challenged on a particular element of your thinking, your goal is to have a neutral response — don’t be defensive. The best outcome is to have a discussion with them and lead them to the same decisions you made. Show them why. Let them arrive at these same decisions — it is much more powerful and enhances buy-in. Much better than telling them.
If their ideas or questions originally went through your mind, share that too. Encourage the group that they are following a similar path in thinking. Walk them through the conclusions you had from that thinking.
And you know what? Maybe… Maybe they’re right…. Don’t be so overconfident that you are blinded to other ideas. You may have missed something! Having a discussion instead of an argument helps you. Discussion is collaborative and allows either party to focus on the problem; not reinforce the hierarchy.
Body Language
Your engagement with your audience needs the right body language. You want to project confidence, but you don’t want this to be perceived as power.
Leadership should always be beside or behind, rarely in front. As leaders, we are there to encourage people in the right direction. Sometimes pushing, but never keeping people behind you.
“To lead people, walk beside them …
As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.
The next best, the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate …
When the best leader’s work is done the people say,
We did it ourselves!”
― Lao Tzu
Have a mindset of Selling your story. Be confident enough in yourself to listen and receive feedback, regardless of who it is. Create a safe place for discussion. It will make you a better Architect.
Why miss out on an opportunity like that?
