Abstract
Are architects supposed to be the smartest people on the team, making all the important decisions for developers to fill in the blanks? Certainly not. Rather, architects make everyone else smarter, for example by sharing decision models or revealing blind spots. Architects also communicate across many organizational layers by using models and metaphors. This talk reflects on two decades working as an architect, ranging from the executive penthouse to the serverless engine room.
Interview
I am part of the AWS serverless team with a focus on serverless integration and automation. In plain text, I am trying to make building distributed systems in the cloud easier. I am also writing another book on Platform Strategy, which is the third book in my Architect Elevator book series.
What an architect is and does continues to be much debated. Shifting technologies and new ways of working only add fuel to the debate as it impacts how architects add value. This talk is my view on the role of an architect. Instead of focusing on purely technical or purely soft skills, I like to reflect on how architects think and make decisions, how they use metaphors, etc.
Everyone who is involved in software delivery or large-scale system design should get something out of the session. You might be an accomplished architect who's looking to up their game or you could be a developer looking to add some architect tricks to their portfolio.
I'd like them to rethink what an architect is and does. It's not about knowing specific tech better than anyone else or being able to recite every package in the Java libraries. It's about finding suitable abstractions using models and metaphors. While that may sound theoretical, the talk won't be!
I spoke at QCon in Japan, San Francisco, and London before, although that was some years back. I hosted the cloud computing track in San Francisco and remember Craig Weissman's amazing talk about SalesForce's architecture quite vividly.
QCon London 2024 is a three day conference for senior software engineers, architects and team leads. An international program committee of working engineers selects every session. Patterns and practices, not products and pitches.
Part of the track
Architecture Through Different Lenses Hosted by Blanca Rojo Executive Director, Distinguished Engineer and Cloud Engineer @UBSFrom the same track
Wednesday 10 April
10:35 Fleming (3rd Fl.) Session Thinking Like an Architect Gregor Hohpe Director of Enterprise Strategy @Amazon Are architects supposed to be the smartest people on the team, making all the important decisions for developers to fill in the blanks? Certainly not. Rather, architects make everyone else smarter, for example by sharing decision models or revealing blind spots. 11:45 Fleming (3rd Fl.) Session AWS Think, Architect, and Sustain Your Serverless Applications As [Set] Pieces! Sheen Brisals Senior Engineering Manager, Author, and AWS Serverless Hero Over the decades, we have seen several architectural principles and patterns that helped enterprises build monolithic applications that stood the test of time. The emergence of microservices made us rethink how we built these business applications. 13:35 Fleming (3rd Fl.) Session Evolving Trainline Architecture for Scale, Reliability and Productivity Milena Nikolic CTO @Trainline, Previously Engineering Director @Google Trainline has been enabling customers to buy train tickets online for over 15 years. 14:45 Fleming (3rd Fl.) Session How to Architect Software for a Greener Future Sara Bergman Senior Software Engineer @Microsoft Few industries have moved fast enough to support the energy transition, and that includes the tech sector. How will software development and operations have to change to meet the sustainability and green needs of the planet? 15:55 Fleming (3rd Fl.) Session Data Mesh Architecture Applied to Complex Organizations Nandakumar Heble Data Architect @UBS, Previously @Barclays, Over 25+ Years of Experience Large financial enterprises often grapple with the challenges of complex data landscapes, ranging from managing petabytes of data produced, increasing regulatory compliance requirements and meeting the needs of different consumers.