Random thoughts - Software Architecture to Toastmasters

Last two days have been quite warm here. Yesterday the temperature rose to about 94F. This is infact hotter than a typical day in Colombo.

I've been working on a briefing for Carnegie Mellon and subject was Responsibilities of Software Architects. This is a topic where there are many definitions. Search the web and you'll probably find 100s of defintions. I did a little bit of study my self. At the end I could identify 4 main responsibilities of Software Architects. Hundreds of specfic responsibilities could be categorized under these. The 4 categories of responsibilities are:

1. Architecting and maintaining the architecture
2. Communicating (especially the architecture) with all stake holders
3. Providing Technical Leadership to the project
4. Acting as a Consultant

What surprised me was that except for the first role, all other roles involved communication and leadership to a very high extent. Simply said a good architect must be a leader and a powerful communicator as much as have the requried technical skills.

This is something most technical people ignore. This brings me back to the title. I joined a Toastmasters club about a month ago and today I did my first prepared speech. Toastmasters is an excellent way to improve your communication skills which I recommend to all.