Continuing to write code

In order for software architects to continuously improve, they should continue to write code. In Chapter 1, The Meaning of Software Architecture, we discussed ivory-tower software architects. They are architects who are isolated in some way from the rest of the team. Rather than having a hands-on approach, they design solutions at a high level but do not get involved with the actual coding of solutions.

If you do not exercise a particular skill, such as coding, over time you begin to lose it. You may also grow out of touch with what is involved in the implementation of different types of solution. You will lose your understanding of the challenges and issues that are facing your developers.

Assigning yourself coding tasks

One way to stay involved with coding is to have some of the development tasks on your project assigned to you. Having coding tasks assigned to you will allow you to stay close to the rest of the development team.

If there are no plans to have the software...