The Work I Had to Let Go to Become an Architect
Article summary
At first, I tried to keep doing everything. Design reviews, security feedback, infrastructure diagrams, technical interviews, roadmap sessions, emergency escalations. Every architecture conversation passed through me. The result? Bottlenecks, not alignment. Fatigue, not influence. I wasn’t amplifying architecture. I was smothering it. The Hardest Lesson: Architects Don’t Scale by Owning. They Scale by Delegating Well. And not just tasks. Intent, accountability, decision rights. Where I Drew the Line I stopped reviewing low-impact service designs. If it wasn’t a cross-boundary concern or a platform dependency, the team owned it fully. My job wasn’t to correct-it was to enable clarity. I handed over ownership of tooling. I had deep opinions on logging, metrics, pipelines. But those opinions didn’t scale. Instead, I helped teams write principles-then stepped back.
Read Full Article on MediumPractical takeaway
The main idea behind The Work I Had to Let Go to Become an Architect is to help teams move from broad theory to clear, repeatable decision making. When teams apply this thinking, they reduce ambiguity and focus on improvements that deliver measurable momentum.
Example scenario
Imagine a team facing competing priorities. By applying the ideas in The Work I Had to Let Go to Become an Architect, they can map dependencies, identify risks and choose the next move that produces progress without destabilizing their system.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Trying to redesign everything instead of taking small steps.
- Ignoring real constraints like incentives, ownership or legacy systems.
- Creating documents that do not lead to any change in code or decisions.
How to apply this in real work
Start by identifying where The Work I Had to Let Go to Become an Architect already shows up in your architecture or delivery flow. Then pick one area where clarity would reduce friction. Apply the idea, measure its effect and share the learning.
Signs you are doing it correctly
- Teams make decisions faster and with fewer disagreements.
- Architectural conversations become clearer and less abstract.
- Changes land safely with fewer surprises or rework cycles.