Most architects are former practitioners who never learned to speak business. They got promoted because they were the best engineer on the team, then walked into their first executive meeting and realized they had no idea how to communicate with people who don’t care about technical details.
This series defines what the architect role actually requires: translation between business and technology, a framework for practicing that translation, and the credibility that makes it all possible.
The Core Problem
On one side, leadership thinks in business outcomes. Revenue, margin, risk, competitive positioning. On the other side, practitioners think in systems. These two groups talk past each other constantly.
Leadership says “we need to be more agile” and engineering hears a buzzword. Engineering says “we need to modernize our deployment pipeline” and leadership hears a cost center asking for money.
The architect sits in the middle. The job is to translate in both directions.
What You’ll Learn
Part 1: Translation
The core skill nobody teaches you. How to translate business objectives into technical requirements. How to translate technical proposals into business terms. Why fluency in one language and illiteracy in the other will cap your career faster than any technical skill gap.
Part 2: The Framework
Translation in practice. Real scenarios, real conversations, real frameworks for bridging the gap. How to force yourself into uncomfortable rooms. How to practice explaining technical concepts without dumbing them down.
Part 3: Credibility
The foundation nobody talks about. How to maintain credibility with practitioners who are deeper than you in their domains. How to build credibility with leadership through calibration and follow-through. Why the architects with the most influence aren’t the ones with the most technical depth.
Why This Matters
You will never be the smartest technical person in every room. The technology landscape moves too fast and spreads too wide. The question is how you maintain credibility and influence when you can’t out-technical everyone.
The answer: practitioners don’t need you to know more than them. They need you to engage seriously with what they know. Leadership doesn’t need you to have all the answers. They need you to translate technical reality into terms they can act on.
Who This Is For
Practitioners who want to level up into architecture roles. Architects who struggle to get buy-in for their recommendations. Technical leaders who sense they’re missing a skill but can’t name it. Anyone who’s brilliant at technology but keeps hitting a ceiling when communicating with non-technical stakeholders.
