Technical architects: Agents of change

A McKinsey study shows that 70% of digital transformations fail, largely due to a gap between strategy and implementation. This high failure rate has a significant impact on the outcomes of these transformations, especially in the public sector. So how do we close that gap to guarantee success?

Gregor Hohpe’s “Architect Elevator” concept offers a solution. It positions technical architects as the crucial link between strategic vision and technical execution, ensuring alignment at all levels. Architects, like elevators, move seamlessly between high level business goals and down into the technical details, translating vision into action and driving outcomes.

Discovering what makes a true ‘agent of change’

To better understand how technical architects can be true ‘agents of change’, we launched a Discovery. We analysed 30 public sector projects using surveys, Q&A’s, and interviews with lead engineers, delivery managers and architects. The Discovery showed distinct patterns of success and failure, highlighting the influence of architects on project outcomes.

One thing was clear: on projects where architects and development teams weren’t aligned, organisations often strayed from their original objectives, quality dropped and technical decision-making was a struggle.

One research participant spoke about a project where the client’s key goal was to replace a costly legacy system. But with little architect involvement, the team lost focus and direction, building useful new features, but ones that didn’t support the main objective. The result? They ended up maintaining two systems – doubling the cost and the workload without achieving the desired outcome of being able to migrate from the old system. 

Several participants in the research said that whilst client technical leaders have a lot of business domain knowledge and context, many aren’t up to speed with the latest technologies and practices. To keep up, they rely on major technology vendors for advice but don’t keep their engineering teams in the loop. Our Discovery revealed that this led to solutions that frustrated the engineers, making them wonder why they were doing something. Many had doubts about the design but still had to deliver it. In one case, an important technology decision failed, which caused the engineers to lose respect for the technical leaders. This led to a growing chasm between the two groups, and the engineers started implementing solutions without oversight, delivering at pace but ultimately causing problems for the business.

Skills and behaviours of effective architects

Our discovery project uncovered some interesting insights about what makes software architects truly effective. We identified 49 key skills and behaviours, then distilled these into eight core competencies. These range from hard skills like resilience and problem-solving to softer abilities such as active listening, influencing, and stakeholder management. The best architects serve as bridges between business and technology. They’re able to explain complex technical concepts to non-tech folks and translate business needs into technical requirements. Only when they become strategic communicators and make the most of this diverse toolkit of skills, do they become true agents of change who lead projects to successful outcomes. 

What we learned and applied

To ensure we’re adding value for clients, we’ve developed tools based on our research findings:

Technical architecture skills maturity assessment

Off the back of our Discovery, we created an interactive tool to help organisations assess their existing teams. This tool allows teams to self-assess and uncover gaps in their skillset, whether it’s technical resilience or business leadership. It’s a fantastic resource for organisations to use internally, helping them build more balanced, capable architecture teams.

Using the tool, one client identified that they had a large number of individuals who excelled in technical areas like integration and cloud software but struggled with stakeholder management and strategic alignment. It helped surface these gaps and provided actionable insights on how to address them.

Architecture playbook

We’ve also developed a playbook that captures the best practices of architecture, with a focus on lean and efficient outcomes. Our six-phase approach guides organisations from understanding their current state to delivering successful digital transformation:

1. Finding your bearings – Aligning business goals with technical direction.
2. Verifying the destination – Ensuring clarity and agreement on objectives.
3. Shaping the team – Assembling the right mix of skills and behaviours.
4. Squad checks – Structuring the delivery team for success.
5. Plotting course options – Offering alternative paths to the goal.
6. Navigating the journey – Supporting teams to deliver on time and within budget.

By creating a replicable playbook, we’re able to drive faster, more cost-effective outcomes consistently. 

Want to see what it’s all about?

Using the learnings from our Discovery and applying our wider thought leadership has helped clients like the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice refine their technical teams, leading to better and more successful project outcomes.

By identifying gaps in technical leadership, we’ve helped organisations understand why past digital initiatives may have failed or stalled. Our tools highlight key warning signs, giving organisations the insight to course-correct early and avoid common pitfalls. If you’d like to try out our playbooks or behaviour assessments, please reach out for a chat.

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