The Agile Teams will work with architecture and the agile manifestos principles states that:
“The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.”
However, when the problems we try to solve are larger than what one or a few teams can handle, this principle can no longer stand alone. The Agile teams needs to keep track of the bigger picture when it comes to architecture and we cannot expect everyone to have the time and mental energy to know enough about everything.
This is where the role of the architect really comes into play. Someone who has the time to have the overview, talk to the teams, help explain how it all fits together. With this way of working we both get the power and speed of the teams being able to make architectural decisions as they go and someone who can cross pollinate and help the teams create a cohesive architecture together.
In the end Agile is about collaboration and the Agile architect will foster this collaboration, while also contribute with experience and input to what a suitable architecture could look like. Maybe this is how some architects always have been working, or it could be somewhat new. No matter, there is a lot to learn in the era of Agile organisations.
