Friday last week was a bit different from the usual, as I went down to York to sit on an interview panel. York are recruiting a full-time Enterprise Architect (similar to the post that Nikki Rogers holds at Bristol) with responsibility for shaping the whole contribution of IT to the university's business and my role was to provide an external point of view. I was very interested to learn more about their plans and to compare the architecture situation at York with our own experience.
Each of the candidates had to start their day with a ten-minute presentation about how they would persuade senior managers of the benefits of enterprise architecture. These presentations were interesting in themselves and I may borrow one or two of the ideas put forward.
Obviously I can't say much about the interviews themselves, but I will say that this is hard role to fill. The ideal candidate would have a breadth of IT experience, ability to engage confidently with senior managers, excellent analysis skills and corresponding good presentation skills. The successful candidate would need to lead the architecture work themselves, rather than have a team of architects. So this is quite ambitious. On the other hand, it would be an excellent opportunity to prove oneself and I think York are right to create a dedicated role. I look forward to catching up with their progress.
P.S. The evening train back from York provided more entertainment than usual. The carriage next to mine was full of rambunctious rugby fans on their way to the Calcutta Cup match on Saturday. They even had a set of bagpipes with which they serenaded each station. That's the first time I've heard bagpipes on a train. I doubt the Scottish fans were quite so happy during the match itself, which was dreadful.
Each of the candidates had to start their day with a ten-minute presentation about how they would persuade senior managers of the benefits of enterprise architecture. These presentations were interesting in themselves and I may borrow one or two of the ideas put forward.
Obviously I can't say much about the interviews themselves, but I will say that this is hard role to fill. The ideal candidate would have a breadth of IT experience, ability to engage confidently with senior managers, excellent analysis skills and corresponding good presentation skills. The successful candidate would need to lead the architecture work themselves, rather than have a team of architects. So this is quite ambitious. On the other hand, it would be an excellent opportunity to prove oneself and I think York are right to create a dedicated role. I look forward to catching up with their progress.
P.S. The evening train back from York provided more entertainment than usual. The carriage next to mine was full of rambunctious rugby fans on their way to the Calcutta Cup match on Saturday. They even had a set of bagpipes with which they serenaded each station. That's the first time I've heard bagpipes on a train. I doubt the Scottish fans were quite so happy during the match itself, which was dreadful.
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