With apologies to Scott Hanselman….
I’m going to work for Microsoft. I’m joining the Enterprise Strategy, Architecture & Cloud Vantage team as an IP Development Architect. This role is an enterprise architect that creates artifacts to support the strategy and planning process. (That’s straight from the link, if you are a tl;dr kind of person.) What that means is I draw upon my experience and expertise as an enterprise architect to create high value intellectual property that Microsoft Enterprise Architects, who are in the field at customer sites, can use to help their our customers make complex business decisions.
After years spent in the trenches and in the ivory tower, I realized that what I’m really good at, what I’m really really good at, is acquiring and sharing knowledge. Anyone who knows me will say that whatever I’m interested in, I’m an expert in. It’s a gift that I kind of ignored for a long time because I couldn’t figure out how to really harness its power.
And then one day, I did. But that’s a story for another time.
Scott Hanselman, who is an individual I very highly respect and admire, and now can call a coworker, created this graphic:
I love this graphic. It’s beautiful in its simplicity. And it’s so true. When I found the position at Microsoft, I thought about this graphic. Could this be my dream job? I asked myself. Then I interviewed at Microsoft, and the answer was, Yes.
All of my greatest successes have been in consulting. What I love most is making customers happy. I’m passionate about information technology and business transformation, and it shows when I talk about it. I’m good at it, I love it, and I get paid to do it.
When I discovered the field of enterprise architecture, I realized that I could bring together all my different skills and interests and mold them into something that had real value. And then I could convince other people of that value, either through passionate persuasion or through merit. I was also very fortunate to have some great mentors.
When I read the job description for my new position, I zeroed in on this part:
You should thrive in an environment of ambiguity, and learn whatever is needed to explore a new direction, excel at building creative solutions, and take changes in direction in your stride. You must be eager to learn new techniques and technologies, and have the confidence in your ability to simply "figure it out" when the way forward is unclear.
I felt like it was written directly for me.
What does an enterprise architect do?
Good question. Let me take a little aside for a second.
This article, albeit a little old, gives a really good explanation of enterprise architects and enterprise architecture. Within the EA community, there’s a lot of discussion about the role and responsibilities. Some believe that the EA belongs outside of IT. But the fact is, a good number of EAs work within the IT organization. That’s partly because businesses expect transformation to come out of IT through tools and processes. I have had the most success advising CIOs on transformation through technology adoption and business process automation. If you think about the concept of the Zero Latency Enterprise, it’s wholly dependent upon a successful execution of both IT and business strategy.
That article is a good read.
What’s next?
I’m heading to Redmond next week for orientation and my first week of work. Then I’ll be back in Iowa for the holidays and some planning for my move to Redmond.
After that, anything and everything. I will, as Phil Haack so eloquently put it, drink from the fire hose.
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