The Software Architect Elevator

Chapter 4. Enterprise Architect or Architect in the Enterprise?

The Upper and Lower Floors of the Ivory Tower

Architecture from the ivory tower

When I was hired as an enterprise architect, the head of enterprise architecture to be more precise, I had little idea what enterprise architecture really entailed. I also wondered whether my team should be called the “Feet of Enterprise Architecture,” but that contemplation didn’t find much love. The driver behind the tendency to prefix titles with “head of” was aptly described in an online forum I stumbled upon:¹

This title typically implies that the candidate wanted a director/VP/executive title but the organization refused to extend the title. By using this obfuscation, the candidate appears senior to external parties but without offending internal constituencies.

I am not particularly fond of the “head of xyz” title because it focuses on the person heading (no pun intended) a team rather than accomplishing a specific function. I’d rather name the person by what they need to achieve, assuming that they don’t do this alone but have a team supporting them.

All title prefixes aside, when IT folks meet an enterprise architect, their initial reaction is to place this person high up into the penthouse (Chapter 1), where they draw pretty pictures that bear little resemblance to reality. To receive a warmer welcome from IT staff, one should ...