This year for Christmas I was really blessed to receive The Software Architect Elevator book from a family member. Gregor Hohpe has done such an incredible job putting incredibly technical details into a really easy to follow book.

When I had suggested this book I had expected it to be full of mostly diagrams, snippets of code, and a lot of technical phrases. There were almost none. Instead of simply focusing on technical skills or hard skills he spent an almost equal amount of time focusing on the soft skills required for architects: communication, leadership, decision making, etc.

Some of the key takeaways in the book included communication, automation, and that everyone has the potential to have an impact on the architecture.

Communication

Gregor has put together some incredible feedback on how to craft memos, presentations and create diagrams. The ivory towers need to disappear for architects to be relevant to the business and it. The elevator needs to be used from the penthouse to the engine room as Gregor Hohpe would put it.

Automation

The only way to really achieve speed and minimize human errors is to automate and track. Continuous integration and continuous deployment improve speed over the longterm which allows innovation!

I found the book to be incredibly unique partly because it’s so full of wisdom that’s applicable in a lot of situations and Gregor has a really great sense of humour.