Software architect is a general term with many accepted definitions, which refers to a broad range of roles. Generally accepted terminology and certifications began appearing in connection with this role near the beginning of the 21st century.
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With the increasing popularity of multi-tier application development, the choices of how an application can be built have also increased. Given that expansion, the risk that a software development project may inadvertently create an end product that in essence already exists has grown markedly. A new 'Software architect' role became necessary during software development .
The software architect concept began to take hold when object oriented programming (OOP) was coming into more widespread use (in the late 1990s and early years of the 21st century) . OOP allowed ever-larger and more complex applications to be built, which in turn required increased high-level application and system oversight.
The main responsibilities of a software architect include:
Software architects can also:
In order to perform these responsibilities effectively, software architects often use tools or standardized model and symbol sets such as Unified Modeling Language and OOP to represent systems or develop artifacts. UML has become an important tool for software architects to use in communicating the overall system design to developers and other team members, comparable to the drawings made by building architects.
Despite the lack of an accepted overall definition, the role of software architect generally has certain common traits:
The architect makes high-level design choices much more often than low-level choices. In addition, the architect may sometimes dictate technical standards, including coding standards, tools, or platforms, so as to advance business goals rather than to place arbitrary restrictions on the choices of developers . Software architects may also be engaged in the design of the architecture of the hardware environment, or may focus entirely on the design methodology of the code.
Architects also have to communicate effectively, not only to understand the business needs, but also to advance their own architectural vision. They can do so verbally, in writing, and through various software architectural models that specialize in communicating architecture.
The enterprise architect handles the interaction between the business and IT sides of an organization and is principally involved with determining the AS-IS and TO-BE states from a business and IT process perspective. Unfortunately many organizations are bundling the software architect duties within the role of Enterprise Architecture. This is primarily done as an effort to "up-sell" the role of a software architect and/or to merge two disparate business-related disciplines to avoid overhead.
An application architect works with a single software application. This may be a full- or a part-time role. The application architect is almost always an active software developer .
Other similar titles in use, but without consensus on their exact meaning, include:
The table below indicates many of the differences between various kinds of software architects:
| Architect Type | Strategic Thinking | System Interactions | Communication | Design |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise Architect | Across Projects | Highly Abstracted | Across Organization | Minimal, High Level |
| Solutions Architect | Focused on solution | Very Detailed | Multiple Teams | Detailed |
| Application Architect | Component re-use, maintainability | Centered on single Application | Single Project | Very Detailed |
In the software industry, as the table above suggests, the various versions of architect do not always have the same goals.[1]
The term "software architect" came into being because of the perceived similarities between the creation of software and the creation of buildings.[2] Although a simplified construction metaphor may be flawed,[3] the term is still meaningful in the sense that it describes the "design" aspect of the job.
The use of any form of the word 'architect' is regulated by 'title acts' in many states in the UK and the US, and a person must be licensed as a building architect to use it. Enforcement of these laws may be lax, if it is immediately clear that the title refers to the computer industry and not the building industry.
When architects become too disconnected from the actual developers, they are often dismissively termed "architards", "architecture astronauts", or "Ivory Tower Architects" . Architects may think this term is often incorrectly used by developers who do not have the experience or knowledge to comprehend the architecture .
Application or solutions architects work at a level of detail that demands involvement in actual coding, and will function best with a substantial background in software development. A school of thought holds that enterprise architects should also have a development background, so as to avoid the issues that can arise from an ivory-tower approach .