Architecture and hands-on coding

Software architects must keep improving their coding skills and collaborate to the code base. Here there are some suggestions:

Avoid writing framework code

Framework code should be avoided by the architect. It is too critical for the project and it may stop the rest of the team. Architect must avoid being the bottleneck.

Write business functionality

Architect can focus on writing business functionality code. This way, she is not isolated from the rest of the team but, at the same time, she is aware of the pain could be present in the code base.

Write tests

Creating different kind of tests can be another interesting way for the architect to keep coding and improve the quality of the code base.

Fix bugs and technical debt

Fixing bugs and tackling technical debt tasks is another way for an architect to maintain hands-on coding skills.

Write proof-of-concepts (POCs)

This is useful to validate architecture decisions by taking the implementation details into account. Here, the architect must write the best production-quality code she can; it will be a reference for the other developers.

Code reviews

Code reviews allows the architect to be involved in the source code and mentoring and coaching the team members.