IT Architecture

What Does an IT Architect Do?

Stephen Lahanas, 

November 14, 2013

What does an IT architect do? It’s an interesting question not only for those thinking about a career as an IT architect, but also for anyone …

Build Vs. Buy: the 7 Most Important Questions to Ask

Stephen Lahanas, 

July 11, 2013

Software is the lifeblood of most IT departments. So it’s logical that determining when to buy a packaged solution versus building a custom one for a …

SharePoint as an Architecture Repository

Stephen Lahanas, 

June 10, 2013

Over the past decade, enterprise architecture as a practice has gained quite a bit of traction. Where EA hasn’t taken root yet, solution architecture is often …

Agile or Not, Requirements Management Can’t Be Skipped

Stephen Lahanas, 

January 3, 2013

These days, requirements management is often misunderstood or under-appreciated in IT. Many people have used migration to Agile methodologies as an excuse to discard requirements or …

10 Must Have Skills for IT Architects

Cat Miller, 

December 27, 2012

IT architects use diverse technologies to engineer solutions across the enterprise architecture stack. Some of their roles can be more specific, and so require focused knowledge …

5 Steps to Mastering Design Patterns

Stephen Lahanas, 

December 20, 2012

Design patterns are an important part of software engineering today, but what many folks don’t realize is how ubiquitous they are becoming within the full spectrum …

Here’s the Job Trend You Need to Know About

Leslie Stevens-Huffman, 

December 13, 2012

In some areas, tech job trends followed surprising paths during 2012. Big Data and cloud efforts, for example, were stymied at some companies by architectural, cultural …

How EAs Can Juggle Roles With What They’ve Got

Stephen Lahanas, 

December 11, 2012

Here’s a professional caveat regarding solution architects and enterprise architects: They’re often the same people. An EA and an SA can fill each others’ roles and, …

The Key to Streamlining IT Governance

Stephen Lahanas, 

December 6, 2012

Governance as a service is a relatively new concept, with few vendors currently providing tools specifically targeted to it. At first glance, IT governance doesn’t seem like …

How Do You Apply Integrated Design?

Stephen Lahanas, 

December 3, 2012

When people think about design they often visualize Apple’s products or a user interface. But design in IT is much more than that. While many pieces …