This talk is about how an agile architect should be a bridge improving the communication between the business stakeholders, customers or clients, and the technical teams. During this talk there are presented some of the very important skills of an agile architect that improve the business agility of the company. Here are the skills mentioned in the talk: translator, mentor, simplifier, risk analyst, business analyst, communicator, technical standards creator, code reviewer, assistant product owner, team load balancer, ministry of technical budget, foreman, facilitator.

1. Yes, you need
Agile Architecture
www.mozaicworks.com

2. Me
Adi Bolboacă
Programmer
Organizational & Technical
Trainer & Coach www.mozaicworks.com

3. A definition of Software Architecture
The set of structures needed to reason
about the software system, which comprises
the software elements, the relations
between them, and the properties of both
elements and relations.
[1]
www.mozaicworks.com

4. Another definition of Software Architecture
Documenting software architecture facilitates
communication between stakeholders,
captures early decisions about the high-
level design, and allows reuse of design
components between projects.
[2]
www.mozaicworks.com

5. Software Architecture
www.mozaicworks.com

6. Agile software development
Is a group of software development
methods based on iterative and incremental
development, in which requirements and
solutions evolve through collaboration
between self-organizing, cross-functional
teams.
www.mozaicworks.com

7. The purpose of Agile
1.Incrementally add value
2.Deliver fast
3.Build the right thing
4.Quality software
5.Deliver enhanced value for customer
6.Maintainability
www.mozaicworks.com

8. 1. Incrementally add value
Architect's skill: Translator
www.mozaicworks.com

9. 1. Incrementally add value
Architect's skill: Translator
The architect should be a bridge between
the business needs and the technical
challenges
www.mozaicworks.com

10. 1. Incrementally add value
Architect's skill: Mentor
www.mozaicworks.com

11. 1. Incrementally add value
Architect's skill: Mentor
Constantly help the technical teams improve
1 to 1 meetings
Express confidence and passion
www.mozaicworks.com

12. The purpose of Agile
1.Incrementally add value
2.Deliver fast
3.Build the right thing
4.Quality software
5.Deliver enhanced value for customer
6.Maintanability
www.mozaicworks.com

13. 2. Deliver fast
Architect's skill: Simplifier
The architect should constantly look for
solutions that simplify every increment
delivered
www.mozaicworks.com

14. 2. Deliver fast
Architect's skill: Risk analyst
www.mozaicworks.com

15. 2. Deliver fast
Architect's skill: Risk analyst
One of the main jobs of an architect is
being able to analyze and minimize risks
www.mozaicworks.com

16. The purpose of Agile
1.Incrementally add value
2.Deliver fast
3.Build the right thing
4.Quality software
5.Deliver enhanced value for customer
6.Maintanability
www.mozaicworks.com

17. 3. Build the right thing
www.mozaicworks.com

18. 3. Build the right thing
Architect's skill: Business analyst
Understand the requirements at top level
Make sure the product fits the needs
Communicate technical risks
www.mozaicworks.com

19. 3. Build the right thing
Architect's skill: Communicator
Talk with the customers
Know the end-users
Have a close relationship with stakeholders
Be open for dicussions with managers
Happy to actively attend teams' meetings
www.mozaicworks.com

20. The purpose of Agile
1.Incrementally add value
2.Deliver fast
3.Build the right thing
4.Quality software
5.Deliver enhanced value for customer
6.Maintanability
www.mozaicworks.com

21. 4. Quality software
www.mozaicworks.com

22. 4. Quality software
Architect's skill: Technical standards creator
Drive teams for consensus on practices
Create standards
Document standards
Enforce standards
www.mozaicworks.com

23. 4. Quality software
Architect's skill: Technical standards creator
www.mozaicworks.com

24. 4. Quality software
Architect's skill: Code reviewer
The code looks like one person wrote it
The code respects standards
Teach others how code can be improved
www.mozaicworks.com

25. The purpose of Agile
1.Incrementally add value
2.Deliver fast
3.Build the right thing
4.Quality software
5.Deliver enhanced value for customer
6.Maintanability
www.mozaicworks.com

26. 5. Deliver enhanced value
Architect's skill: Assistant Product Owner
Be in constant touch with product people
Focus on value delivered to the customer
Challenge the Business Value presented
Communicate Business Value to the teams
www.mozaicworks.com

27. 5. Deliver enhanced value
Architect's skill: Team Load Balancer
The teams deal with a sustainable effort
The effort of the teams is almost the same
The customer's value stream is constant and
predictable
www.mozaicworks.com

28. The purpose of Agile
1.Incrementally add value
2.Deliver fast
3.Build the right thing
4.Quality software
5.Deliver enhanced value for customer
6.Maintainability
www.mozaicworks.com

29. 6. Maintainability
www.mozaicworks.com

30. 6. Maintainability
Architect's skill: Ministry of Technical
Budget
Measure technical debt
Minimize technical debt
Plan well technical debt installments
Do not bury the company in technical debt
www.mozaicworks.com

31. 6. Maintainability
Architect's skill: Foreman
[3]
The architect is the person who is
responsible for making sure all the workers
do things right
www.mozaicworks.com

32. The purpose of Agile
1.Incrementally add value
2.Deliver fast
3.Build the right thing
4.Quality software
5.Deliver enhanced value for customer
6.Maintainability
www.mozaicworks.com

33. General Skill
Architect's skill: Facilitator
www.mozaicworks.com

34. General Skill
Architect's skill: Facilitator
Be able to convince a group of people to
achive consensus without taking a particular
position in the discussion
www.mozaicworks.com

35. Agile Architect's skills
www.mozaicworks.com
Translator Code reviewer
Mentor Assistant Product Owner
Simplifier Team Load Balancer
Risk Analyst Ministry of Technical Budget
Business Analyst Foreman
Communicator Facilitator
Technical Standards Creator

36. Thank you!
www.mozaicworks.com

37. References
[1] Clements, Paul; Felix Bachmann, Len Bass, David Garlan, James Ivers, Reed Little, Paulo Merson, Robert Nord,
Judith Stafford (2010). Documenting Software Architectures: Views and Beyond, Second Edition. Boston: Addison-
Wesley.
[2] Bass, Len; Paul Clements, Rick Kazman (2012). Software Architecture In Practice, Third Edition. Boston:
Addison-Wesley. pp. 21–24
[3] http://blog.8thlight.com/uncle-bob/2014/02/21/WhereIsTheForeman.html
www.mozaicworks.com

38. Enterprise Agile Architect Role
Contact me
Unit testing workshop
Remote pair-programming
TDD workshop
Refactoring workshop
Legacy code workshop
Legacy code retreat
Code retreat
www.mozaicworks.com

39. Enterprise Agile Architect Role
Extend your mentoring & training
capacity
Accelerate learning through
communities of practice
Grow your functional leaders and top
talents
http://www.mozaicworks.com
adrian.bolboaca@mozaicworks.com
@adibolb