Developing Architects

Enterprise architecture is still an emerging profession. As well as the specific technical skills required, there are some critical talents, skills and approaches that architects need in order to operate effectively inside organisations. They must have a broad perspective on the organisation they serve - its business goals and how the IT strategy supports them - and be able to weigh up competing dimensions and help stakeholders make trade-offs between their respective needs to achieve the right solutions for the enterprise as a whole. They will need to concentrate on the things that really make a difference and earn a position of influence within all of those teams engaged in the actual delivery of business and IT change projects and programmes.

In this session, Sally Bean and Peter Haine will draw on their extensive experience with architecture groups in the public and private sector to examine the key architect roles that are required, how to develop the broad range of competencies needed to fulfil them, and ways of organising architecture teams for maximum effectiveness. They will also provide insights from their experiences of leading communities of practice in architecture.

This presentation will focus on:

• The different types of architect you need in your organisation and how you work out which team structure will be most effective
• The necessary distribution of competencies (soft and hard) and responsibilities across the different architect role types
• Practical career development paths for architects
• The characteristics of high-performing architecture teams

About The Speakers:

Sally Bean is an independent Enterprise Architecture consultant, advising large organizations in the private and public sector on how to develop their EA capability and embed EA approaches into their ways of working. She has over 15 years experience in the field, with 10 years as a member of the EA team in British Airways. Here she championed many successful initiatives to exploit technology and share data and applications more effectively across the organization She also worked on the early stages of the Terminal 5 project and led a successful Architecture Community of Practice. She is particularly interested in Systems Thinking and Complexity approaches and their applicability to enterprise architecture. She currently co-chairs EAC Europe.

Peter Haine has worked in Systems and Enterprise Architecture as a consultant, and in major corporations, for over 20 years. He has been responsible for project and architecture delivery in public and private sector organisations globally, including GlaxoSmithKline, the MOD, Pilkington Glass, Rolls Royce and Associates, the Post Office, and English Heritage. He also pioneered a Masters programme in Information Systems at Coventry University and has delivered executive and practitioner seminars with James Martin's organisation and also with Codd and Date and Savant.

A map of the location is available here. The event is held in the Palmer Building.

Timetable:

6.00 - 6.30 Tea and coffee
6.30 - 7.30 Presentation
7.30 - 8.00 Opportunity for informal discussion and networking

Sandwiches and soft drinks will be available after the presentation.

Event Logistics

Date:	Wednesday 11 Nov 2009	Time:	18:30
Venue:	Reading University Whiteknights Campus Palmer Building RG6 6UR	Bookings Closed.