Beyond the technical: Small steps to playing bigger (aligning teams focus with stakeholders targets)





Who is this presentation for?
- Software architects and software architecture leaders
Level
Description
Software architects and enterprise architects (EA) work with a variety of roles across the organization. The combination of time pressure and stakeholder involvement can result in a feeling of fighting fires.
Maggie Carroll teaches you how to develop influence through relationship building, using actionable techniques and a tool for moving from a feeling of fire-fighting to a feeling of proactive ownership, which she developed as an enterprise architect. You’ll explore a framework for avoiding the fire-fighting mode and remaining productive as a leader in under 10 hours a week. You’ll also take an honest look at the level of success and pivoting for starting up a new EA function in an IT team comprised of solution architects leading Agile Scrum teams.
Using the framework she developed for “managing [her]self,” Maggie learned that her influence over others grew. Drawing on her real-world experience, she explains what worked and what required a pivot. The first step is to ask what the goal is and begin with the end in mind. You must align with corporate strategy, find alignments with business partners, and identify artifacts to communicate ongoing success, such as a road map or a schedule. Gaining influence starts with ownership—business partners are key stakeholders.
Learn how to grow your effectiveness with stakeholders, coworkers, folks you’re leading, and your own leadership by doing a few key steps consistently for a few minutes each day. To energize your team, you need to create opportunities for success with skill development, including effective estimation, governance that works, deciding whether or not to meet, and the need to celebrate, acknowledge, and reward. And you have to lather, rinse, and repeat by continuing to evaluate, ask questions, implement improvements, and communicating with the stakeholders.
Prerequisite knowledge
- Experience leading a team or multiple teams
What you'll learn
- Understand that you have to spend 20%–25% of your time outside of the technical and what to do with that time
- Learn to identify stakeholders, align with stakeholder goals, communicate consistently with stakeholders, and influence by using consistent messaging

Maggie Carroll
MAG Aerospace
Maggie Carroll is a senior engineer at MAG Aerospace, putting together a system of systems and enabling vendors to play well together. Maggie has been a software architect and enterprise architect for the last six years and has worked in software engineering for the last 30 years. She helped launch two successful startups and has helped with several large real-time systems in the aerospace industry. Maggie loves leaning up processes and has a passion for improving team dynamics to get great results.
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Comments
Slides have been posted! Thank you for joining.
Excellent talk/session!!!
i am wondering if you could share the slides to be able to review the contents?
Thanks