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0 pointst435623y ago0 comments

"real architects" write code and simply hop from one team to the other so that they have a reasonable picture of the overall system and can try to guide all the teams to make harmonious choices and possibly even reach some goal.

This still results in a lot of compromises and problems. Anyhow they should be there talking to the developers in a 2-way fashion so that then end result is not entirely "from on high".

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3 comments · 2 top-level

pydry3y ago· 1 in thread

I haven't ever seen one of them.

IME architects tend to be people who tell your team that you should be using Azure Cosmos after a Microsoft salesman takes them out to lunch. They last coded 5 years ago.

jbmsf3y ago

They exist - I am one - but it doesn't work unless your leadership wants someone who doesn't fit in existing hierarchies. I tend to consult and if I go somewhere where I have prior relationships with leadership, it works. If not, I get treated as part of someone's narrow reporting chain and all the incentives are wrong.

noirbot3y ago

I've seen this even without the code - them just bouncing between teams and sitting in on many meetings and sort of being the common note-taker who then knows where almost every team is going, what they need, and what cross-team work could be done to improve everyone's life.

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