Investigative Architecture Training

What is it?

An intensive, interactive one day training for architects, developers and other IT roles who want to take their architectural and diagramming skills to the next level.

Why improve your visual modeling skills?

Practicing architects already understand how important “visual thinking” with diagrams is to driving great design. Yet the landscape of different modeling tools and disciplines can be confusing, and lead us quickly away from the core modeling concerns: clarity and scope.

Investigative Architecture is an approach to “visual thinking” and problem solving that is tool-agnostic and adheres to industry standards. This approach can make a critical difference to your stakeholders:

  • It empowers you to communicate more clearly.
  • It lets everyone focus on facts, not opinions, in situations where debates get heated.
  • It’s an impressive and invaluable skill.

Who should attend?

Architects, Engineers, and Developers who want to…

  • Gain the tools necessary to be expert visual communicators
  • Learn the thought process needed to diagram under pressure, with minimal information
  • Become THE indispensable visual modeling resource in their projects
  • View the Unified Modeling Language (UML) in a new way, tailored for EA success

What should you expect?

  • Understand the visual modeling value equation
  • Select the right architecture diagram type
  • Scope a diagram a dozen different ways
  • Acquire a “tool box” of techniques for investigating and understanding complex system architectures
  • Gain the confidence to model any system or process, no matter how unfamiliar

Agenda

  • Modeling tool (your software) vs. modeling tool (your brain) – “your brain as modeling tool”
  • Identifying modeling opportunities
  • Crash course in diagramming for solution architecture
    • Logical Deployment Diagrams
    • Physical Deployment Diagram
    • Data Context & Data Collaboration Diagrams
    • Conceptual Diagrams
    • System Context Diagrams
    • Other UML diagrams (Activity, Sequence & Meta Model diagrams)
  • Other critical process-oriented topics, such as:
    • Communication and Facilitation
    • Setting Stakeholder Expectations
    • Assessing Architectures
    • Facilitating Design Decisions
    • Identifying Architecture Risks
    • Issue Resolution and Options Analysis
  • Investigative Architecture Case Studies, Reference Material, Activities and Problem Sets

How is it structured?

We deliver the training several different ways:

  1. Eight-Week Seminar: This is the most effective method, and is a once-weekly, half-day session covering only a couple new topics each session, and it extends for 8 weeks. This also includes a once-weekly, optional conference call “peer review” for trainees to bring their real-world architecture diagrams, documents and problems for group discussion, moderated and guided by Systems Flow’s trainer. Up to 10 trainees can productively participate in each training “cohort”, so if your organization has a large group to train, this is best done in several parallel tracks. Learning just a bit of the method each week, and practicing it each week on your real-world IT problems is a great way to rapidly reap the benefits of Investigative Architecture.
  2. Two-Day Intensive : This is a rapid and intense “crash course” in all core Investigative Architecture techniques and tools. Its best for 1) seasoned architects who want to learn a new, lean and more agile method like Investigative Architecture, 2) technology professionals new to architecture who want a quick introduction to the field or 3) those without the organizational support, budget or time to engage us for the full 8-week seminar.
  3. Weekly Mentoring: This is an optional add-on for those who attend the Two-Day Intensive course. For 4 weeks following the training course, you get 1 hour each week of dedicated, private mentoring & tutoring, as well as the ability to participate in a 1-hour weekly group peer review conference call with other students.

What does it cost?

8-Week Seminar $10,000/10 trainees *
2-Day Intensive SFI-hosted: $1,190/trainee
Private/On-Site at your organization: depends.Register Here
Weekly Mentoring

(4-week block)

$800/trainee (or depending on enrollment)

* Travel not included. Multiple tracks recommended for large groups

While we are committed to bringing you the value of our expertise and experience in this area, our training solution is highly interactive in nature. We believe that hands-on learning and dialogue with our participants is valuable and will create the most useful training experience possible. Expect to be challenged!