Information technology architects: Approaching the longer view

Abstract

All Information Technology (IT) systems have architecture and these architectures are developed by people, frequently called IT architects. These people vary in their capabilities and this directly affects the systems they work with. This research investigates whether some previously identified capabilities, (intuitive cognitive style, problem solving, visualisation, and future vision) differ between IT architects of different skill levels. We found that while all IT architects reported as very skilled problem solvers, the more highly skilled IT architects approached problems in a different manner than the others. We also found that the higher skilled IT architects had a significantly longer view of their actions. These results are important for the education of aspiring IT architects and also the selection and development of existing ones. Copyright 2006 ACM.