After 7 years and dev and now in an arch role for 2 years at a high level there are a few things that jump out to me as being some of the bigger differences with going from dev and into the arch.
- You need to consider and prioritize equally all stakeholders, product, qa, dev, external customers, you can't be biased towards dev just because that's the world that you know.
- Lead through influence not edicts, teams don't usually want to be told what to do but are almost always open to hear ideas about how to do certain things, nudge, lead and guide gently
- Stay close to the code, never stop coding, continue to contribute regularly to the project(s) that you are overseeing
- Trust the people you work with until they prove to you that they are not to be trusted
- Be fearless and speak up, one of the best things about being in arch outside of the dev organization is that you should feel free to speak your mind, don't be afraid to disagree with dev if you think they are going about something the wrong way, but also realize that it might be you who is in the wrong.
