Skip to main content

Software Architect vs Project Manager

Most of the organizations expect the technical role needs to play / assist team by project manager.

The project manger has to be good in technical concepts to design the application and helping the team on problem solving.

Based on my experience, in this article I have presented the important points to be focused during designing the application by project manager who is expected to play a role of an architect or work with architect:

1) Understanding end to end development life cycle:

Refer the below end to end development life cycle, the architecture stared during the requirement and matured during development.

During the requirement gathering phase the architect need to concentrate on feasibility of implementing the functional and non functional requirement. 

Need to on board few resources in to project to perform the POC for evaluating the initial design.

Create the design of the application during elaboration phase; the main point here is to create right size architecture base on project cost, schedule and scope.

2) Understand what architect does:

The architect role is limited and need to play a role within the provided constraints. The constraints are Available Software, Hardware, Infrastructure and organization process.

3) Architects manage risks and changes:

The architect needs to develop the design that has layers of components and loosely coupled (for example use the microservices).

Identify the risks expected in the project and provide the flexibility to change the design during the development phase.

The changes might be coming from business that requires changes in the architecture; the architecture should be flexible to accommodate the changes.

4) Architects communicate with stakeholders

Architect needs to communicate with stakeholders on the approach, assumptions made and support from client and organization for getting the resource and infrastructure.

Architect prepares the Software architecture document, share with the stakeholders and get the sign off from client.

5) Architects build the reusable components:

The reusability provides fewer problems, greater productivity and easier maintenance.  Architect needs to build to reusable components by refine existing components that have been used in other systems.

6) Architects influence the requirement:

Architects working in constrains like functional and non functional requirements, Resource, Schedule, Cost and Real time qualities. He needs to influence to requirement to get Maintainability, Scalability of the application in the real environment.

7) Derive the solution from business needs:

The architecture needs to support the boundary between the system and the system outside which interacts such as end user and external system. The system need to support business workflows, rules and satisfy the functional requirements.

8) Architect refines the solution based on the Technology:

The architect need to refine the solution based on the technology, for example if you are working for automobile or finance organization and they have working on Oracle SOA suit for enterprise solutions, need to make the solution based on the technology available in the client place.

Need to develop the solution using web services to make smart integration with other systems.

The conclusion is design the simple architecture which has multiple layers instead of complex architecture. 

The architecture needs be flexible to accommodate the changes and supports painless to integrate with external systems.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New way of product development

Today is the era of fast-paced world and competitive world. Companies are realizing that the old sequential approach to developing new products won’t get the job done and product can’t be reached to market when compared to competitors. The 4 stages of product development are as follows – R&D, Growth, Maturation, and Decline. Instead of sequential approach, companies are using holistic approach – as in rugby game, the ball gets passed within the team as it moves as a unit up the field. This holistic approach has six characteristics: 1)     Build-in-instability 2)   Self-organizing project teams 3)   Overlapping development phases 4)   Multi-learning 5)   Subtle (very clear and strong) control 6)   Organizational change to explore and learning The above six characteristics forming a fast and flexible process for new product development with advantage of act as a change agent, creative, market driven ideas, flexi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Product Manager vs Product Owner

Both the product manager and the product owner work towards a common goal, to build and improve products that create meaningful value for customers and all stakeholders within the company. This usually happens by delivering and optimizing product features. Product Manager Product Owner The product manager discovers what users need, prioritizes what to build next, and rallies the team around a product roadmap. The product owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the product by creating and managing the product backlog. This person creates user stories for the development team and communicates the voice of the customer in the Scrum process.      Product Manager and Product Owner's work on below vacuum. Product manager focus on: Business Strategy Long term Product Vision Long term Product Strategy Product Roadmap Alignment with Product Owner Product owner focus on: Release Plan (Product Backlog ie: ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Delivering a project within budget

 Here are some tips for delivering a project within budget: Set a realistic budget Define the project's scope and necessary resources, and create a budget that's realistic. Cost estimate Segment the project into smaller tasks and milestones to plan how to use resources and provide clarity. Divide the project plan Break down the project into tasks to avoid late deliverables and over-budget projects. Monitor progress Regularly track the project's progress to identify and prevent cost overruns. Use progress reports to compare actual costs to the budget. Anticipate and revise changes Communicate with stakeholders to identify and assess risks, and assign owners to each risk. Consider different scenarios Estimation can be difficult for complex projects with many potential outcomes. Tracking: Tracking time spent on tasks, Tracking expenses per project, and Using project management software. Use Historical Data Your project is likely not the first to try and accomplish a specific o...
Post a Comment
Read more