Architect's role: question

[Ashley Thomas]

Does an architect's role include project management ?
Does the architect have to assign tasks to members of the project ?

I am not talking about the ideal architect's role; rather what is there out there in the real world.

Thanks
Ashley Thomas

[Anandasubramanian CP]

Short answer: no.
Long answer; maybe.

Thanks
CP Anand

[Sasan]

I agree with the answers

 

project management is not part of architect's responsibilities. But having input as who should do what when allocating resources is part of what architects do.

 

--
Plan for things to go wrong, Design for things to go right
S+

[Paulo Merson]

A project mgr knows the skills of people in the team.
The architect knows the skills required to implement different elements
of the system.
In small project they may be the same person; in large projects they
usually are not. But in any case, the architect has a say in work
assignments, even when contractors are involved.
Paulo Merson

[FireB...@gmail.com]

Answers to this question depend on your definition of an architect and
the level of responsibilities of that person.

On my latest project, where an architect wears multiple hats, the
following applies:

Q: Does an architect's role include project management ?
A: Yes, with regard to human aspects of project management, task
planning, and schedule of deliverables. This project lacks a software
development manager, hence the architect is involved with more than
just architecting. In general I've worked on the projects where a
delay was a direct result of poor communication between the architect
and the project manager.

Q: Does the architect have to assign tasks to members of the project ?
A: Absolutely if it relates to building / developing architecture.
Also applies if architect is overseeing the implementation of the
software. Project manager and architect work together with this regard
as well.

Firebrand CK
www.softwarearchitectures.com/blog

[Alp Çevik]

Fireband's concept regarding hats seems matching. I would furthermore like to refine the answer as,

- Software Architect is a role
- Project manager is a role
- A person can have multiple roles.

So, in my opinion, a software architect does not deal with project management and assignment, bu the project manager does. If a software architect is assinging roles, he is a project manager, as well as a software architect. Changing hats.

Concluding, whether the project is small or large, these roles are different, but size does matter when it comes to the distribution of the roles.