We all know the reality of engineering work. Deadlines loom, features need to ship, critical bugs demand immediate attention. In this environment, it's easy to get lost in the weeds, focused entirely on the task at hand. But this is exactly when architectural thinking becomes most valuable, not as a luxury to indulge in when time permits, but as a practical mindset that should inform our daily work.
The Tension is Real
Let's acknowledge it upfront: all engineering teams have commitments to meet. We operate within sprints, roadmaps, and quarterly goals. When a critical feature needs to ship next week, it can feel indulgent to pause and consider architectural implications. This tension between short-term deliverables and long-term vision isn't going away, but how we balance that tension makes all the difference.
Ignore architectural concerns too often, and you accumulate technical debt that eventually grinds everything to a halt. Focus too much on architectural purity, and you might miss critical business windows. This isn't just a technical challenge, it's central to our effectiveness as engineers.
Strong Opinions, Weakly Held
In engineering, we often say, "strong opinions, weakly held." In our architectural context here, forming those strong opinions requires deep business and product awareness. We need to know where the business is headed, and then form strong opinions on how our technical architecture can support that direction.
For example, at BetterUp, we are continuing to introduce new products aimed at expanding our reach into the enterprise in scalable ways. We have products like Care, Manage, and our AI Coaching offerings intended to deliver on this vision on top of our established one-on-one coaching product, Lead. This isn’t a new effort, this is something we’ve been iterating on for years and will continue to do so as we look to meet our customers’ needs through multiple solutions at different cost efficiencies.
This understanding gives us a foundational pillar for those "strong opinions" – architectural convictions grounded in business reality. But they're "weakly held" in that we need to build in appropriate levers of flexibility, knowing things can change. This isn't uncertainty, it's pragmatism.
The Vision as Destination
There's a critical distinction between the journey (specific implementations) and the destination (architectural vision). For example, here at BetterUp, making our new manager-specific Manage offering work with our core Lead offering isn't the end state. The end state, the opinion strongly held, is the enterprise-wide, multi-product offering, combining features to meet our customers’ needs. When we build with this vision in mind, by the second, third, or seventh time we integrate products, we already have the right things in place to quickly test further.
This mindset shift transforms how we approach our daily work. Instead of just checking off tasks, we're constantly testing our path toward the destination.
Day-to-Day Work as Tests Against the Vision
This is where architectural thinking becomes practical. Each implementation decision becomes a small test of our architectural vision. Does this approach get us closer to our destination? What are we learning that might inform our path? Or maybe we need to rethink the destination itself.
Yes, we need to deliver on our commitments and hit our deadlines. But we recognize, that’s not the end, that’s just a step on the longer journey.
Making It Work While Meeting Deadlines
How do we balance architectural thinking with the pressure of deadlines? Here are some approaches that can work for us:
- Look for architectural runway: Within your current deadlines, identify small investments that pay dividends later. Can you abstract a component now in a way that sets you up for future expansion, in alignment with where you think the vision points? Strong opinions inform the technical bets we should be making.
- Connect architecture to business outcomes: When advocating for architectural considerations, tie them to business impact. "This approach means we can add new products in days rather than months" resonates more than technical arguments.
- Make the vision visible: Regularly share architectural principles and destination state. When everyone sees where you're headed, day-to-day decisions naturally align better across teams.
- Embrace incremental architecture: You don't need to build the perfect system on day one. Evolve your architecture in small steps that each deliver value.
The Engineer's Mindset
Architectural thinking isn't just about systems, it's about mindset. It's about lifting your head up from the code and asking: "How does this work serve our destination? What am I learning that might refine our path?"
This approach creates tremendous value. You're not just building to specification, you're building toward a vision, with each delivery increasing your velocity toward that destination.
So next time you're deep in a sprint, remember: the tension between deadlines and vision is real, but it's also where the most valuable engineering work happens. Do the work to understand the context, and have the confidence to move things forward in the right direction. This can make all the difference over the long term.
(This post was written with help from Claude 3.7.)
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